Life en la casa de Lidia

God's Goodness

2009-01-29T13:41:00.001-06:00

It has been SO long since I last wrote. It has been so long that I even forgot how to create a post in my blog :) but today something came to my mind that I wanted to share about as I thought of God's goodness.

Matty came home today for lunch just so he could play with Rebekah in the melted snow/ice. After they got done playing outside I heated up some soup and reminded Rebekah, "isn't your papa such a good papa that he came home for lunch just to play in the snow with you?" and then I proceeded to tell her that she needed to thank him for that. This led to another conversation of God's goodness to us when I told her, "that is how good God is to us, Rebekah." Rebekah and I memorize Bible verses and one of them is Psalm 34:8, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!" I try to use the things all around us to help her understand what the verses actually mean. So this was a perfect example for me to use to help her understand the verse and to help her think of God's goodness to us.

I was then thinking dwelling on this beautiful picture. I am so thankful that Rebekah will be able to understand better God's goodness, better than me for sure, because she has a father who cares for her every need, who loves her deeply and who only looks out for her good and best interest. She will be able to see God as a good father who also does the same for her and even more because He is perfect and truly good. She will also be able to trust Him even when things get tough, can't understand or when they don't happen the way that she wanted them to happen because her earthly dad tries to give her only what is best for her even when the best is not what she really wants.

It was just a neat insight that the Lord was giving me today. God is so good in revealing himself to us and giving us understanding of His beautiful Truth.

Great is Thy faithfulness...indeed!

2008-05-28T09:40:00.019-05:00

As I write this post we have 2 1/2 weeks before we head down to Honduras! Very exciting indeed:) Time has gone by way too fast, but the Lord is so faithful. We cannot thank Him enough for who He is and for what He has done in this very short time.

The Lord has provided abundantly and beyond for all of our needs to be able to stay in Honduras for those four months. Some of the things that He has done are the following:

1. He has provided all the money that we had budgeted for our trip
2. The company that Matt works for, tac, decided to pay for Matt's Spanish school in Honduras! What an enormous blessing!
3. We have a couple who will be leasing our home while we are in Honduras. This couple is actually moving to Honduras in October to do medical mission work and it is a wonderful provision for them as well. A huge answer to prayer!!! God is so good!

These are just a few of the things that our Lord has done so far. We believe that God will do amazing things in and through us in Honduras that have much more eternal value. God continues to show us His clear direction and provision as we move forward with this. We are so at peace and filled with joy as we walk in obedience.

This trip has taught us so much already...trust, obedience, waiting on the Lord, faith...and we are looking forward to the things He will teach us while we are down there as well. Please pray for us as we make that step of faith. Pray for protection, health, for the Lord to use us in mighty ways as we live and share His Truth, for our girls and us to adjust well and to be flexible.

Thank you so much for all who have been praying with us through all of this. The Lord has definitely answered prayers! Thank you also to those who have blessed us with unexpected gifts that the Lord has used to encourage and confirm His will and plan for our lives. We love you all so much!

Here are some of the latest pictures of our girls too...enjoy

On Mother's Day holding my little girl

Esther loves to be in her Moby Wrap or sling (Thanks Michawn for the advertisement...I love my Moby and Esther loves it too :))

Esther on the move :)

Rebekah imitates everything I do. Since I carry Esther in the sling...she also wants to carry her animals in the sling too...too cute! She also puts her animals underneath her shirt and pretends that she also has a Moby wrap ;)

"Fishing" with papa at a church picnic

Rebekah loves her papa...they have lots of fun together and her papa teaches her so many things. She usually wakes up in the mornings saying, "where is my papa?" and when I tell her that he is at work she usually says, "he needs to come home" :) They have a special bond.

Rebekah and Esther in the crib...Esther not too excited about it as you can tell ;)

Our little Esther is getting bigger each day. She is so sweet!

Rebekah having fun and loving life!
Mom and dad meeting their new grandbaby:)

One Month Old Esther!

2008-05-07T12:54:00.008-05:00

Wow...time has gone by way too fast :) I can't believe that Esther is now a month old. She has been a blessed addition to our family. We are adjusting pretty well. We took my mom back to Texas this past Sunday and things have gone pretty smoothly with being just us. I am so grateful for that.

Esther(4 wks) and her cousin Patrick (2 months)

Esther is a pretty good little girl for the most part. She is now about 8 lbs. She is getting chubbier and so very cute :) She still just loves to sleep and eat...what a life!

Abuela holding both grandbabies

Rebekah is doing so well these days. We are so proud of her. She is having lots of fun being a big sister. She loves to be out in the swing, loves to play in the water, loves bubbles, she loves to dance and be silly with mama and papa, loves her VeggieTales videos. She loves to talk and sing. She is very lively and always doing something. She loves to cook with mama and papa too. She is a good helper as well.

Kita likes to go really high in her swing :)

Rebekah playing in the water and with bubbles
Enjoy the pictures!

2008-04-27T17:56:00.013-05:00

This past weekend we celebrated Matty and my mom's birthdays!!! What a blessing those two are in my life. My mom's birthday was April 10th, but due to us living in different countries, we can never celebrate her birthday together. Although it was a bit late celebrating her birthday, we decided this would be a great opportunity! It was so nice being able to celebrate with her. Those are some of the things I miss by not living closer to my family.

Matty's good friend Darren was also here to celebrate with us all the way from Israel:) We were glad that he could be here with us.

Matty is an amazing husband and dad. I cannot thank our Lord enough for him. Happy birthday, Matty! We love you so very much. God has truly blessed us with your life. Thank you for showing us God's unconditional love and servant heart. May our Lord continue to give you wisdom, favor and may He continue to place His desires and purposes in your heart as you lead us. Many, many blessings to you on your birthday and always!

Esther will be four weeks on Monday. She is doing really well. She is growing fast and getting cuter each day. Rebekah is such a big girl. She is super active :) She loves to bounce, run, laugh, give picos (kisses), and watch videos. She is so full of life! She is a wonderful big sister too. She is also talking up a storm these days.

Could this be it - Esther's birth story

2008-04-24T21:59:00.018-05:00

It was only April 7th... 2-1/2 weeks before the due date. The whole time I kept asking myself and the Lord, "could this really be it?"

Sunday night I felt a little uncomfortable...more than usual. I did not think anything of it though. I went to bed and woke up at about 11:00 p.m. with some abdominal cramps. I slept through most of it but at 1:00 a.m. I woke up because I needed to go #2 :) I stayed up because I realized that I was having actual contractions. I went to the living room and put on my birth CD and read my Bible and prayed. I did not wake Matty up because I was not sure whether I was in labor or not. The house was a mess since we had been cleaning and organizing so there was lots of stuff everywhere.

I went to the bathroom a second time and afterwards I decided to clean up some of the mess. I thought, "maybe this is it" and I just could not believe it. I just kept thinking,
"I am SO not ready."

Matty woke up at about 2 or 2:30 and I told him that I thought I was in labor. He started timing my contractions and at that moment they were about 2 1/2 minutes apart. I was so busy getting the house in order that the contractions did not really feel that strong. Matt wanted to call Renee, who would be staying with Rebekah, and Ashley who would be going with us to the hospital but I told him to wait. I wanted to make sure that it was not false labor. Finally after I got things organized a bit, the contractions got stronger and I realized that this was it. I told him to call the girls.

I decided to get in the shower and that felt pretty good. I came out of the shower and heard Renee arriving. Ashley came right after, as I was laying down to rest for a little bit. Matt and Ashley were coming in and out to assist me. They were also getting the car ready to take me to the hospital. I went to the bathroom on more time and Matty was there with me and I had a pretty strong contraction and felt a desire to push...I did not tell Matty that I wanted to push (did not want to scare the poor guy:)) but I told him, "we need to go to the hospital."

Everything was loaded in the car, but I wanted to pray for Rebekah before I left. So I went into her room and prayed for her. I then headed to the living room and sat down as I felt another strong contraction. Renee and Ashley were there cheering me up through this contraction and then they prayed for me. After that, we loaded up and headed to the hospital.

Going to the hospital was fairly relaxing. I did not have any contractions and Shane and Shane were on the radio playing some really wonderful worship music. God is so good. I felt his love and comfort at that moment. I knew that He was right there with me and that He was going to get me through it.

We arrived at the hospital and the nurses were really nice and they kept asking me annoying questions like, "so, what brought you here today?" I almost laughed but I didn't. I was still pretty humorous...I just said, "um, contractions?" They were taking their time, I think because I was doing pretty well and they did not think I was in serious labor. Finally the nurse checked my cervix and she had this expression in her face like, OH MY...she said, "there is no cervix to feel. You are complete!" I could not believe it myself either! She asked me if I wanted to push and I told her, "not yet!" I just remember her just bragging on me and cheering me on..."you are doing amazing" and then she said, "you will be the talk of hospital this week" :) I was encouraged. God is so faithful.

I was then taken to the delivery room where there were tons of nurses and a weird doctor since they said my doctor might not be able to make it on time. This was a bit frustrating since they wanted to put an IV in me and strap the monitor on my belly and do all kinds of weird stuff. They were talking quietly to themselves about different drugs, etc. I told them that I did not want an IV and so after a couple of times of me insisting, they finally said OK. I started praying that the doctor would make it there on time. I knew that he would do as I told him since we had talked about having a natural birth and he is such an amazing doctor. God is good in that I really had no desire to push even though I was already complete.

Just as my doctor walked in the door my water broke! I was SO relieved!!! as soon as my water broke my body knew exactly what to do and I was so ready to push. I had one contraction and several pushes and there came Esther! I was relieved at how fast it went. My doctor was super! He coached me through the whole pushing stage so that I would not tear and I did not tear at all!!! That was a HUGE blessing. We were so thrilled to meet our little baby girl. Another sweet girl! How exciting!

Esther was 4 lb 15 oz and 17 inches long. She was tiny but healthy and strong. She breastfed immediately after delivery and stayed with me for a long time. When we were ready, the nurse took her and got her all cleaned up. She stayed with me almost the whole time at the hospital. The morning we were to bring her home, I had a court date to become a US citizen (post forthcoming). Because Essie's pediatrician was late in checking Essie out, we had to leave her there to go to the oath ceremony. We returned to the hospital a couple of hours later and brought her home with us. She is thriving! At her two week appointment she weighed 6 lb 4 oz. She is doing great. She is a good baby! She sleeps pretty good at night so I am able to get some sleep. She is truly precious.

Rebekah is doing well. She is adjusting and she struggles at times. She is sweet to Esther but not too involved with her yet. She seems more defiant these days and more in need of attention, but overall we are proud of her and thankful to the Lord for helping her adjust.

Esther Elise

2008-04-09T16:48:00.008-05:00

Esther Elise Brodine
Born on April 7, 2008 at 6:05 a.m.
4 lbs 15 oz
17 inches long

She came a bit early. Her due date was April 24th. She was for sure kicking her way out :) God's timing is perfect. We are so happy to be parents again to another beautiful baby girl. She is SO PRECIOUS!!!!! Love truly does multiply. It is an amazing feeling! God is so good to us. I will let you know more of the details of labor later. Right now I need to change a dirty diaper and feed our little Esther.

Love you all!

Our four month adventure...

2008-03-27T07:08:00.000-05:00

Matt and I have always talked about moving down to Honduras, either temporarily or permanently, for years. We have toyed with the idea many, many times but never really felt like the timing was right. Well...not until recently.

I think it all started when Matt returned from Colombia this past year. The Lord put it in his heart to pursue language school. Matt knows a lot of Spanish already, but is not completely fluent. It has always been a dream of his (ever since I met him) to be completely fluent in Spanish. He started doing research for language schools in all of Central and South America.

Some things needed to be in place before we could go. One of those things was for us to be debt free. The Lord helped us work hard for four years to get rid of our debt and so we have been debt free(except our mortgage) for about a year and were able to save a lot more because of that. We were also waiting for God's perfect timing for this whole ordeal to take place.

Things are actually rolling right now and it is pretty exciting. We feel lots of peace and we are just waiting on some details to iron out.

This is what we have so far:
-a school for Matt in La Ceiba, Honduras
-the dates that we are thinking about leaving and coming back (June 7th-September 28th)
-Matt sent out a Leave of absence proposal to his boss and it has been approved
-a budget for our trip
-willing hearts to be used of God in any way that He desires while we are in Honduras those 4 months :)

Things that we are waiting for:
-How our house situation will work out. Since Matt will not receive income for three of those four months that we will be in Honduras and since we have not paid off our house yet, this is our biggest "obstacle." We know that the Lord will work this out. We are waiting on Him to see how :) It really is exciting stuff! Our God is good and powerful and our hope is in Him. I will keep you posted.
-We will also need to get the baby a passport since we are planning to leave only about 6 weeks after baby is born. Our due date is April 24th...so it is close.

It is exciting and crazy at the same time :) Keep us in your prayers as we wait on the Lord to work all this out and as we head down to Honduras as well. It will be quite the adjustment especially with two kiddos but we are looking forward to spending time with family and friends. We are also looking forward to the opportunities we will have to share Christ with them and be able to hopefully reflect Christ through our lives. Our Lord be glorified!

Psalm 119:105

2008-03-22T12:40:00.006-05:00

Psalm 119:105
Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.

This is Rebekah's memory verse right now. We ask her, "can you say your verse?" and most of the times she will go ahead and say it. The other day she said it without us even asking her and she got a treat for that :)

This is the first verse we have worked on so far, but it shows us how much she can actually grasp at such a young age and what better thing than for her to have His Word written/hidden in her heart.

One thing that Rebekah also loves to do is sing. I have sung hymns to her ever since she was in the belly and she loves to sing. She will ask me, "mama, sing" and we will just sing with a joyful hearts. She loves the hymn Trust and Obey although she only knows the chorus. It is so amazing how fast she learns them. She also knows all the words to a song that is really special to us called, "Special to me." It is so cute!

Two in one :)

2008-03-20T22:51:00.006-05:00

We received two little blessings in one day. My sister called me early on March 1st to tell me that she thought she was in labor. About an hour later, Matt's brother-in-law, Gary, called to tell us that they were heading to the hospital to induce Liz, Matt's sister.

Both our sisters had babies the same day and only about 2 hours apart from each other :) What a blessing! Rebekah and I were able to go to Longview for a week and help my sister out with meals and house stuff and that was a treat. We have not met Juliette yet, but soon and very soon we hope to. Enjoy the pictures!

Patrick Shane Walters
Gary, Liz and Juliette Renee

The Belly

2008-03-20T22:29:00.003-05:00

Hey there everyone, since I have not posted any belly pictures I thought I might do that for you all. Here are some pictures of baby in belly :)

I am 36 weeks right now. Everything is going well with the pregnancy. I am feeling really well...just starting to get a little tired toward the end of the day. Matty has been rubbing me before bed as we practice our relaxation (Bradley stuff) and that always feels great!

Enjoy!

Jonah said, NO!

2008-02-26T12:16:00.004-06:00

Jonah is Rebekah's favorite Bible story right now :) I think because of the whole NO episode :) She always says, "Jonah said, NO" and that is her favorite part of the story :) It is pretty funny.

We always try to remind her of what happened to Jonah after he made such a bad choice and disobeyed God and then what Jonah did later. She always talks about the big fish eating Jonah and how Jonah later said, "OK God, I obey."

It's stuff like this that as a mom I love and value so much. There are so many times when I will just look at my little girl and pray for her for the Lord to give her a heart for Him and a love for Him and His kingdom. I love being a mom! I love our little girl. She is a blessing in our lives. Can't wait for the new addition!

Let my people go!

2008-02-26T08:35:00.002-06:00

I have been reading in the book of Exodus and as I was reading over it yesterday I just didn't want to be reading for the sake of reading that story that I have heard and read many times. I wanted to know how it applied to my life and to this day and age. I prayed and asked the Lord to help me apply this to my life. It was neat what the Lord showed me.

He showed me that many times I am like Pharaoh in that I choose to disobey and ignore His Word. I thought of specific things like love your neighbor as yourself, be merciful for I am merciful, be kind to one another, take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, or whatever is pure, noble, excellent, praiseworthy....think of such things. I know what His Word says, but sometimes I, like Pharaoh, choose to ignore it because I want to do my own thing. I don't want to yield to Him so this is where the application came for me.

Some of the words that talked about Pharaoh's response to God were the following: he harden his heart, "he would not listen to them. Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart" Ex 7:22b-23, his heart was unyielding, ignored the word of the Lord.

I understand that the Lord hardened Pharaohs heart in order to reveal His power, but I believe that Pharaoh's heart was already unyielding toward Him. As the story progresses, Pharaoh's heart became even more hardened toward our Lord and this is what can happen to us as we harden/ignore the Word of the Lord in our lives.

May we walk like Micah where it says,

"He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?"

Micah 6:8

Our TWO year old!

2008-02-19T16:44:00.022-06:00

Yes, Rebekah turned two last week! Time has gone by so fast! She has truly been a joy and such a blessing in our lives. She had such a fun time celebrating her b-day with grandma and grandpa and our really close friends.

Rebekah is doing great by the way. She can sing her ABC's, count to 15 in Spanish and English. She knows her colors pretty well and shapes. She loves to be read to and she is understanding so much about the Lord.

These past two weeks were really hard because she got out of her schedule and we think she might have been having bad dreams and woke up afraid. Last week I went in a couple of times to check on her and every time I went in she would say, "pray mama, pray." I would pray for her and lay her down in her crib again and she would go back to sleep in peace. It is neat that she is understanding about prayer and how much Jesus loves her. She loves to smile and she is so active! She also has a very strong personality and is quite the leader.

She is just precious!!!!! Ahhh....we love that little girl so much. Happy birthday, Kita!

We got her this little kitchen for her b-day and she LOVES it. She plays with it all the time. I went ahead and made that tablecloth and napkins and her own towels for the kitchen. She always uses mine, so now she can have her very own. I had fun playing :)

God's Faithfulness and Timeliness

2008-01-07T14:49:00.000-06:00

Ashley drove me to the doctors office a while back and we sat in the waiting room for almost 3 hours :) But the Lord had a plan in all of this.

While we were there, there was this young girl there who was sitting between what we think was her mom and her grandma...we have no idea. Another lady across from her asked her if she was prego and she said yes. This lady asked, "you are young, you must be 20 or so." Well, she did not stop there, she kept insisting on this girl telling her how old she was when obviously nobody wanted to say how old she was. The pregnant girl finally said she was 16 and this lady just went off on her. "What are you doing so young getting pregnant...are you going to keep this baby...do you think God cares about your body...it's your body and you choose to do whatever you want." I know, in the waiting room, it was crazy!

Ashley and I looked at each other and we knew that we needed to pray. My face felt so hot as this lady kept telling this girl how she had messed up her life. We were both praying and we really felt like it was a spiritual warfare and just plain satanic. It was horrible.

We finally looked at her and I asked her, "how far along is your baby?" She looked at us and said 12 1/2 weeks and she showed us her ultrasound pictures proudly. We made it all the way to where she was and knelt by her to admired her little baby in the ultrasound picture she had. I then told her that I was 12 weeks along. I told her that the doctor had done an ultrasound the week before and that the baby was moving lots and was well formed. Ashley told her how proud she was of her for keeping her baby and the girl seemed so relieved. I told her that I have had an abortion in the past and explained to her what all that entails and how huge of a decision that is and how much it affects a woman. She told us confidently that she was not going to have an abortion. We just encouraged her and told her how much God loved her and her baby and how she was doing the right thing.

She was then called for her appointment. Ashley and I went back to our seats and I said to her, "maybe this is the only reason why we are here!" :) God is faithful!

Ashely was the administrator of the Pregnancy Center that I used to volunteer at this girl was just sent from there. The doctor who was seeing her is the doctor that has been very supportive of that organization and will do ultrasounds for free for girls who are not sure whether they will keep their babies or not. It was truly a divine appointment. The Lord knew that we needed to be there to encourage that sweet girl. About 80% of girls who see their baby through an ultrasound machine will decide to keep their babies. It is huge! I have counseled girls who were just plain sure that they wanted to have an AB and after seeing their baby they changed their minds :)

If the Lord has placed in your heart a desire to support a pregnancy center in your area, do so! You will not only be saving babies lives, but they also get the opportunity to hear about Jesus and it is an amazing ministry. I no longer volunteer at a pregnancy center, but we give monthly support and we also are a part of their annual fund raiser and we invite other leaders from our church or friends to a nice dinner for them to hear and hopefully support this ministry in the future. It is a blessing to be a part of this ministry and it is so needed!

I just realized this....

2007-12-20T08:56:00.000-06:00

Rebekah and I both wrinkle our noses when we smile :) So funny and cute!

Recipes

2007-12-18T15:33:00.000-06:00

Here are the ones for the Coconut Flan and for the Rice. The Coconut Flan is so easy and it is SO delicious! It is my favorite. The Honduran rice is amazing, but I don't make it that often because of that :) Rebekah loves it too.

Coconut Flan
By: Lidia Brodine

1 can of Sweet and condensed milk
1 can of Evaporated Milk
6 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
Coconut (optional)- 1 cup

Blend all the ingredients in the blender…no order necessary

Caramel
1 cup of sugar
¼ cup of water
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Bring caramel to a boil and let it simmer until it gets a dark golden color. Do not stir!

Once it's done, pour it on the pan you will bake it in. Make sure it is really dark because I really think that that is the secret to a yummy Flan.

Pour Caramel into pan and then pour flan mixture in it.

Put the flan pan in another pan of shallow water (not sure what you call this process) and bake at 350 for about an hour.

Honduran Rice

Oil-I use Olive oil, but you can use whichever you have
Onion-2 Tbsp.
Bell pepper- 2 Tbsp.
One garlic clove
1 cup of rice
2 tsp. of chicken bouyan or two cubes
2 cups of water
frozen(drained) or canned corn--as much as you like

Pour the oil in a pot...make sure it covers the bottom of the pot. Yeah...this is not the healthy part ;) Turn it to medium heat. Once it's hot, add the onions, bell pepper and garlic. Don't let it cook too long and then add the rice. Mix well and then let the rice cook until it has some color to it. Once it's ready, add the chicken bouyan and mix well again. Then add the water and let it simmer and cook for like 15 to 20 mins. When it's almost ready, add in the corn and let it finish cooking.

It's really yummy rice! Hope you like it. It might not turn out too good the first time, but just keep trying and it will get better the more you make it. It has some tricks to it, but once you've mastered it then it is easy!

Chiles Rellenos and Chicken Tortilla Soup recipes coming soon...

Chiles Rellenos

2007-12-12T14:34:00.001-06:00

I love to cook! Growing up food was always a big thing. In our culture, food seems to be the way to love on others. Food is always the main focus on parties and even Christmas. So I grew up savoring it :) Even when I talk to my mom now we will say, "do you remember that Tapado (a typical Honduran plate) we had at Lissy's house? Wasn't it good!" or my mom will tell me, "I tried this new recipe" and she will just start telling me right then how to make it. It is fun! I am so thankful for this because I feel like I can bless others by taking them a nice, warm meal or just by having them over at our house to enjoy a meal and get to know them better. It is a blessing and it is a gift that I am grateful for.

The other day I tried making my mom's Chiles Rellenos recipe and OH MAN it was good! I had never tried making them, but my sister made them a while back for us and they were so good and Matty liked them so much that I thought I should try making them myself.

It is fun trying new recipes. Although I am not big on Recipe Books. I love making recipes from back home (Honduras) and people I know. If I like something I will usually ask for the recipe and make it. If my hubby likes it, we keep it. If not, we just don't. I have gathered lots of really good recipes that way.

If anyone would like the recipe for my mom's Chiles Rellenos let me know and I will post it for you or email it to you :)

Sparkle in Kita's Eyes

2007-12-12T14:22:00.000-06:00

We love Christmas music and we look forward to the Christmas stations after Thanksgiving. I play them in my radio at home all day and I just love it!

A while back we had a Christmas CD on and so Matty asked me to dance with him and so we did. We love dancing at home together. Sometimes we will dance at nights once we put REB to bed...not all the time, but on occasions we do.

This time REB was still up with us and we were just enjoying dancing together and when we look down to see her, she was just looking at us with a sparkle in her eyes that seemed like it said to us, "mama and papa love each other so much" and there was a confidence in her knowing that. It was so sweet. Then she wanted to join in with us and she just laid on my shoulder while we all danced and kissed us. It was too sweet!

I love moments like this in which REB realizes that we love each other so much and that it is not all about her. That mama and papa have a very special bond and love for each other and that she is a part of it.

The Cross...That Sweet Cross!

2007-12-12T14:14:00.000-06:00

I wrote this poem about 3 years ago as the Lord reminded me of my salvation. The salvation that is available to all of us through Jesus Christ. I am no poet, but the Lord inspired me to write this. I remember it was sometime in December as well. Hope you enjoy it and are reminded and rejoice in the day of your salvation!

The Cross…That Sweet Cross!

What a need we all have for a Savior
For we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God
A Savior who is love and holy at the same time
Who loves us unconditionally, yet cannot accept our sin
Without them being nailed to the cross through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
We were once sinners, but Christ paid the penalty for our sins!
We are now reconciled to God!
The price! What a price He had to pay
Yet it was His will…His love for us
Now we are born into the family of God
We have been adopted and we are now heirs with Christ
The cross…that sweet cross!
That took my sins and I bear them no more!
The cross…that sweet cross!
Now it is no longer I who live
But Christ who lives in me
My old self is nailed to the cross
Through His Spirit living in me
I am a new creation
I am His forever and for eternity!
The cross…that sweet cross!

warrior, tenacious, resilient, perseverant and strong faith

2007-11-13T14:23:00.001-06:00

Well, here we go...

I had not made this official in my blog, even though all of our family know, but we are pregnant with baby #2 :) I am 17 weeks along and we are doing well. The first trimester was really hard and had some difficulties, but the Lord is so faithful and good. I was so sick and then I got Pneumonia and that just did it :) I am feeling so much better now though and I am so thankful to the Lord for that. The due date is April 24th...Matty's b-day is the 27th...so we will see :)

You are probably wondering about the weird title :) Well, let me explain...as I have been praying for this baby I have felt those words strongly of his/her character. It is neat how the Lord gives us little glimpses of our children's personalities. With Rebekah I remember that it was joy and sweet spirit, and she truly is both. We shall see!

We are excited...so excited. We are going to arrange for the baby and REB to sleep in the same room. Our house is small, but enough for all us. We still want to keep a guest room for family or friends when they visit, so we thought this was the best arrangement. Plus I grew up sharing a room with siblings my whole life and we think that is good and healthy for children. We are not finding out whether it's a boy or a girl...so it will be another beautiful surprise. Who needs to prepare when the Lord has already done that for us :) And we are also planning on another natural and not medicated birth.

If you think of us pray for continued healthy mama and baby and pray for the Lord to prepare all of us physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally for this new addition to our family. I am sure there will be more adjustments to make and we want to glorify our Lord through all of it.

Meditation...

2007-11-08T15:46:00.000-06:00

"God is not a man, that he should lie,
nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?
Numbers 23:19

I have been meditating on this verse this week and the more I think about it and commit it to memory and heart, the more I love it! What a great verse to remind us that God's Word is True and that He is completely trustworthy. I don't know about you, but I struggle at times believing that what I read in His Word is TRUE. I can read and even memorize verses, but when it comes to having to face reality sometimes I waiver. I am ashamed of that and hate it. This verse has been so good for me to meditate on because as I face life and situations I can think of specific promises from His Word and truly believe in my heart and it has brought so much freedom and joy. His Word is Truth. It is the ultimate and only Truth and I love that we have it in our hands. Lord, help me in my unbelief. I desire to not only read your Word, but that it truly becomes alive and active in my life.

Prayer and family time

2007-11-05T08:59:00.000-06:00

It was hard to decide what we would do for Halloween this year. We really prayed a lot about it and gave it a lot of thought. We had mixed feelings about it. I did not grow up celebrating Halloween because I was raised in Honduras. Matt did, but he is not big on it either. We really didn't plan anything....well, not until the last moment.

We were having dinner that evening and we were still talking about what the Lord would want us to do. Our church was doing a Fall Festival, but we did not feel like going. We did not want to take Rebekah trick or treating either, but we wanted the Lord to lead us. After a while of talking about what we felt in our hearts, we decided to make it a family fun time and also an opportunity to pray for each of the children that came to our door.

Our two conflicting thoughts were that Halloween is such a dark holiday, but as children of God living in this world, how could we bring glory to God. We knew that he would not shut the door of his house and turn all the lights off because He came for the sick and broken and dead...He desires that all come to know Him. He could have gone to a fall festival to gather with all the believers and have some good fun, but still he was so purposeful in all that He did that we didn't think that would be his choice. What we thought most represented Christ would be to be a light in the darkness. Matt said something that I believe was God's answer for us at that moment. He said, "What if all the believers at the fall festivals stayed home, lighted up their homes, and shared the love of Christ with their neighbors and all the different people that came to their doors. What if they stayed and prayed for each of those children and made it a day where the Lord is glorified through it." This is what we did and it was so neat! We have not felt the spirit of God so strong as we felt it that night. We were praying in the spirit for each of those children after they left and it was powerful. Rebekah also joined us as we prayed, but she mostly enjoyed the caramelized and candied apples. Matty carved her a happy face pumpkin and she just thought it was so neat :)

I am not saying that this is what everyone should do or that if you went to a fall festival or took your children trick or treating that you are a terrible Christian. But I believe that as you as a family seek the Lord in every decision, that He will lead you and give you the desires of His heart. We believe that this is what our Lord placed in our hearts to do. We are thankful that as we seek God for every decision with a desire to glorify Him, He is so faithful in answering even if it's at the last moment. We serve a beautiful God! We love you Lord!

A Servant's Heart

2007-10-24T15:48:00.000-05:00

A couple of nights ago while we were all having dinner I asked Matty the following question:

Me: Matty, you are such a wonderful husband, who made such a huge impact in your life that made you the man that you are today. Was it your dad? a pastor? Who made such an impact in your life? I am just so blown away by the you treat me, REB and others.

Matt humbled by my question and just so sweetly said to me: You know who I think made such an impact in my life, my grandma. She served and served and served others with so much love and care. When we were at her house she would make lasagna for us or things she knew we liked. She always had ice cream for us and just made us feel so special. She gave so much of herself to others that it made a huge impression in my life.

I thought his response was interesting but truly amazing. It is so true that our kids model our lives and not what we tell them. That's why Paul says, "imitate me as I imitate Christ." The same applies to our children. They see our lives and according to what they see being modeled their lives are being shaped.

Thank you Lord for grandma Brodine and for the impact that she had on her grandchildren by living your Truth of loving You with all her heart, mind, soul and strength and loving others as herself. May we continue to follow her example.

Do not fear

2007-09-13T08:37:00.000-05:00

"For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I myself will help you, declares the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel."

When I read this early this morning I though...ahhh...what a beautiful picture!!!! I thought of REB and I and how I sometimes will hold her hand to help her take those tall steps, or to keep her safe in the parking lots, or just anywhere where I feel like she needs my help. She doesn't have to ask me for help, I know what she can or can't do.

God does the same with us. He takes hold of our right hand and if you picture that, it is truly a gentle, loving and merciful God who loves us so unconditionally and knows what we can or can't handle and is saying to us in a loving and gentle voice, "Do not fear; I will help you."

Such a beautiful picture! Thank you LORD for holding our hand and leading us and helping us! I love you so much. Remind me of this as I go about my day today~

Shane and Shane

2007-09-06T15:04:00.000-05:00

They were in Tulsa again and of course I would not miss it for the world :) Matt had a class that evening so REB stayed with a good friend of mine. I had a nice dinner with my friend Danee and we then headed to the concert where we met with my Shanaic friend, Ashley and her hubby;) Ahhh...I had so much fun! I love their music.

Here are some pics of the concert! Enjoy. They also released their new CD, Pages,and it is great! All new songs :)

Shane Everett, Me, and Shane Barnard

Out of the loop

2007-08-30T15:12:00.001-05:00

Life was busy for us these last three weeks. I will try to give you a glimpse of what we have been doing with our lives these days.

A couple of weeks ago my family came to visit us for the weekend and that is always a treat! We did lots of stuff with them and my brother, my Matty and my nephew got to see Tiger Woods play at the PGA while Lissy, Genesis, REB and I had a really nice leisurely time together. What a blast we had! I love and appreciate my family so much. They make my life so full!

The following weekend we took a trip to Minneapolis to visit Matt's sisters, nieces, and brother-in-law. We drove about 11 hours or so to get there(in two days) and it was fun! REB did well and so that makes traveling with an 18 month old more pleasant than expected and we were happier parents :) Of course she did have her moments, but overall she did so well! We had SO MUCH fun with our family! They took us to the Mall of America and there REB rode the kiddie roller coaster with papa. We also went downtown and they showed us around North Central University, where Matt's sisters and brother went to school. We had loads of fun playing with our nieces!!! It was also a treat to visit John Piper's church...the North campus. We were very impressed with how their is a sense of excellence everywhere you go and a love and zeal for the Lord. It was quite a treat!

We then headed south to Higgsville, MO where Matt had to work and we stayed the night. It was a pretty cute town and REB and I rested and did some shopping while papa worked hard.

Back home I buried my head in a GREAT book!!!! I could not put that book down and I was in a hurry to finish it so that life would go on as usual :) The book is called, Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers and if you have not read it, it's a MUST! It's a beautiful story about God's love for us and it is based on the Book of Hosea. Must read!!!! Thanks for the book, mom! I love you!

After the book there was lots of laundry to get done and lots of other chores to do around the house and no desire to write :) Sometimes I have the true desire to write and other times I have none...so now you have a glimpse of what has been going on at the Brodine household for the last three weeks or so :)

Seashells

2007-08-06T12:28:00.000-05:00

Aiden holding REB, Kaar and Aren

A couple of days ago in my time with God I wrote how I sometimes could not understand or did not know how to put together what seems to be a dichotomy. I know that God sees all of me and that nothing is hidden from Him(Heb 4:13). This includes my good, my bad and my ugly :) Yet He still loves me AND "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Cor 5:21). He sees perfection in me through Jesus Christ. How do I put these two together? I asked God to help me understand this in a way that was clear to me.

I babysit these three kids twice a week in the mornings for a really good friend of mine. We were at the playground at the mall today and Aiden was showing me the sea shells that her sister Aren had given her. Although most of them were broken shells, she had them in a nice little box because they were special to her.

Our conversation went like this...
Aiden: Miss Lidia, look at my shells. Aren gave them to me because she didn't like them
Me: I like them Aiden....they are pretty
Aiden: I like them a lot too because even the broken ones are very pretty
Me: What do you like about them?
Aiden: I like this one because of the purple spot on it...I like this other one because of the dark purple lines in them...
~I just kept agreeing with her and looking intently at each one of them as she described them~
Aiden: (shaking them) I like how they all sound good together too!
Aiden: You know what I like most of all, Miss Lidia? I like that they are all different...you know, they are not the same and I like that a lot!

As she was talking I knew that God was answering my question very clearly. Not only was He answering my question, but also was showing me how we are to see everyone through the eyes of Christ; how we are to love others as Christ's special creations.

Aiden did not see broken, ugly shells, but she saw deeper than that...she saw beauty in a way that no one else could. She also liked how they were all different and how they made a wonderful sound when she shook them all together.

You see, God sees us like Aiden saw those shells. He showed me that the seashells represented each individual person(believer or non-believer) and that even though we are not at all perfect, God sees beyond our inadequacies. He sees a unique beauty that He has put in each one of us--even the broken ones and the very different ones. When we are saved and work together as the body of Christ, each using his gifts to encourage the others, then we make a wonderful sound, or melody, and it brings glory and honor to Him.

I hope and pray that I could see myself and others like Aiden saw those shells. When she was telling me all this I was almost crying because I felt like God was teaching me and giving me understanding about what I had asked. Not only this, but He was showing me how much He loves each one of us and sees us as a beautiful, not just broken, but special shell to Him.

When I looked around at the playground I was able to see something beautiful in each one of the children and parents who were playing nearby. What a beautiful lesson. Thank you, Jesus and thank you for using Aiden to show me this! What a special girl she is with such a sweet and tender heart!

Our sweet little girl...

2007-08-06T07:55:00.000-05:00

she is getting big so fast! It is exciting :) She is going to be 1 1/2 years old on the 12th of this month. She is so funny and wild :) She is a joy. Hope you like these...

Blue Like Jazz

2007-07-30T08:39:00.000-05:00

This has been my latest read and I liked it very much. I actually have not read a book in a while that liked so much as this one. Donald Miller is hilarious, real, down to earth and honest about his struggles. I loved reading this book because in many ways it released a freedom in me and I could relate to him in many ways. Not only could I relate to him, but it was also very convicting.

Here are some things that I got out of the book that made me think, pray and allow the Lord to change in my life and give me freedom:

I wish I wasn't so judgmental toward my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and toward non-believers
I wish I could love others UNCONDITIONALLY and not with all the "Pharisaic" conditions we put on others
I wish I could love others even when they have other points of view that are different than mine.
I wish that when I read 1 John I would not think of myself as the good person and everyone else the bad. Because when we read about living in the light I think I am a pretty good person because I don't cuss, or smoke marijuana, or drink or sleep around...but I do have pride, envy, jealousy, I don't love like Christ would want me to love, I am unforgiving...etc.
I wish I would think of others better than myself and not think that I am more spiritual than them...the holier-than-thou mentality
I wish God would strip me completely from my self-righteousness and prideful chip on my shoulder
I wish I could show people how I truly love them and care about them not because I feel sorry for them, but because I see God in each one of them.
I wish that intellect would not quench my desire to love God with all of my heart, mind, soul, and strength, since He is a person Himself, who is not only to be learned about, but to be experienced as well.

Oh Lord, forgive me for my pride, self-righteousness, jealousy, envy and unforgiveness. Lord, change me from within. Make me humble and give me a love that only you can allow me to give to others. I surrender all of me. Amen!

Some R & R

2007-07-30T08:19:00.000-05:00

Yes, some rest and relaxation is what we did for our anniversary :) Matt took me to a nice and quiet bed and breakfast in the middle of nowhere and we had so much fun. We left REB for the first time with some friends and she did great! We were so thankful for that!

We walked around the little town, had a nice candle light dinner, had great talks, went for a walk, visited with the owners of the B&B, watched a movie, slept in :), had a delicious breakfast and sat on the porch for a couple of hours talking and reading and discussing 1 John, we wrote down what we called our Most Important Priorities List or MIP List ;), talked some more...and then headed home.

It's amazing what a day away from everything and everyone can do to you :) We were ready to get our little girl and be back home!

A fun top ten list for you about us

2007-07-25T13:14:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine did this a while back and thought it was cute...hope you don't mind, Ashley!

1 - One sweet baby whom we are so in love with!
2 - Two people who love each other and whose love continues to grow even stronger
3 - Father, Son, H.S = God is the center of our marriage and the Source of our love
4 - The number of years we have been together and the best four years of my life!
5 - Five nicknames Matty calls Lidia: Dots, babe, stinker, Liddy, sugar-mama:)
6 - Things we don't have in common: both from different countries, I stick to something on the menu and Matt likes to try new things, I like going to the same places and Matty likes to try new places, I like to stay up late and Matty likes to go to bed early, Matt likes to sip his drinks and I chug them all at once, I like to explain every detail in a story and Matt just wants to give the headline :)
7 - places we have visited together: San Diego, Rosarito :), Albuquerque, North Carolina, Honduras, Washington DC, Seattle
8 - We have known each other for eight years and we still like each other very much ;)
9 - REB's bedtime and time for us to talk and love on each other
10 - Things we have in common: we both love the Lord so much and want to honor Him with our lives, our little girl, we are not picky eaters, we both like leftovers, we like to go bike riding together, we like picnics, we both like to have our coffee in the morning and spend time with the Lord in the mornings as well, Saturday family pancakes :), we buy stuff on sale, we both like Latin America so much that we could live there!

Words cannot even describe...

2007-07-25T11:58:00.000-05:00

How thankful I am for my marriage to the finest man on this earth! As of today, we have been married for four years and I will say that they have been the best four years of my life! I feel so honored and blessed to be married to Matty. I have said so many things about him on this blog and I don't ever get tired of saying those things over and over because they are true in Matty's life. He is what he is whether he is at home, or after a hard day at work, or at church, or with friends, or anywhere. I know what to expect and I love that about him.

Before knowing our Lord I looked for love in all the wrong places and people. I was so messed up :) I was one of those girls that people probably felt sorry for because I was moving in the wrong direction and making really bad choices. I never thought somebody would truly love me for all that I was. I had lost hope of that. When I came to know the Lord I had a pretty rough past and so I was a little hesitant to share about it, but at the same time I was wanting to share it with the person that I thought would be my husband as soon as I could because I wanted to make sure he still wanted to be with me :)

When I shared my past with Matt, I was truly shocked at his warmth response and love for me. I did not understand how someone who hardly knew me would embrace me like he did. Not only did he do that, but that summer he was the first person who actually reached out to me so that my healing process would start to take place. I hope to share my whole testimony one of these days. The Lord used Matt in my life since the moment I met him. I was a babe in Christ when I met him with a zeal that God had placed in my heart and that's it! I had nothing much to offer. God started the process through wonderful people that the Lord placed in my life and Matt is one of them. Ever since I met Matty he has showed me God's unconditional love. He treats me like a princess and now he is the same way with REB. When I think of Matt, I cannot think of anyone better for me. He is God's perfect provision for me and as time goes by I see that even more and love him even more. Matty is not perfect and none of us are either, but he is God's perfect man for me!

Lord, my heart is overflowed with thankfulness to you for blessing me with an amazing husband and now dad. I could not have picked anyone better for me. Thank you for bringing us together for your glory and honor. I pray that we will glorify you with our marriage and lives!

Family Fun Times

2007-07-18T14:11:00.000-05:00

We are always trying to find ways that we can have fun as a family. We absolutely LOVE being together and doing things together. So, last week we had our first bicycle ride as a family. We bought REB her own seat so that she can ride with papa and I followed them in my bike.

Rebekah seemed to like it. That was until I got injured :) I was riding in front of them and for some reason I felt like I was loosing my balance and my foot got trapped in the foot strap and before I knew it I was flat on the ground. And yes, Matt and REB were right behind me! I was not so much worried about myself but mainly praying that Matt would not fall off the bike since I was in his way and he could not turn sharply because REB was riding with him.

Thankfully Matt and REB safely made it through, but REB was in shock :) She saw her mama flat on the ground and her dad in shock saying, "why are you stopping in the middle of the road!" I was so thankful that I was the only one with the bruises and scratches because I would have felt horrible if Matt and REB would have fallen. I picked myself up and made sure REB knew that mama was OK! I said, "look Rebekah, mama is just fine(as I did some jumping jacks and smiled the whole time;)). She did not believe it too well, but we then made our way back home and our fun adventure was over. She was once again a happy and fearless little girl. I have some bruises in my arm and a few scratches but nothing that will stop me from going back again with those crazy kids!

The Brodines

2007-07-13T13:48:00.000-05:00

I don't think I have shared much about Matty's side of the family, but just like Matty is my better half so are they! I remember that first Thanksgiving dinner we had after we got married and we were going around the table telling each other what we were thankful for and my first thought was how grateful I was to have such a wonderful and God-fearing family! I still feel this way. Matty's parents are so amazing and have raised four servants who are loving and solid believers. Mom, I admire you so much for raising such a beautiful family. I see how Matt is with me and REB and with everyone and it is so beautiful and I just think the world of you and dad for raising such a fine young man! He is the finest man I have ever met!!!!! You guys did a wonderful job! You both have supported us always, and yet have always been reserved in allowing us to make the decisions trusting God to lead us to make the right choices and praying for us always. Thank you!
Alex(Matt's oldest brother) and Beth have four great kids who LOVE to have FUN!!! They are so active and fun and full of energy and I love that about them :) They make me feel right at home :) They love Aunt Lidia's dance lessons and they love "kita"(we call Rebekah kita some times) as well. Alex is a pastor of a church in Holdrege and he and Beth are both wonderful parents too. I have learned a lot from Beth because she is so open to share her joys and struggles and it makes me feel like it's OK to have the different feelings and emotions that mamas have. Thank you Beth! I love you!

Liz(Matt's sister) and Gary are insane :) They have two sweet little girls and they are adorable and sweet and everything nice you can think of! We hardly spend time with them because they live so far away, but when we do, it is always full of laughter and joking. Gary and Liz are both quite the jokesters. They are so much fun and such good parents too.

Angelina is one of the finest and most godly girls I have met. She is fun, smart, has a beautiful voice, laid back and beautiful girl inside and out. She is quite the catch!!!! What impresses me most about Angie is her love for the Lord and her desire to be obedient to Him. I love you Angelina and miss you so much:)

Last but not least is Grandpa!!!! When I first met Matty and met his family I fell in love with Grandpa. He sold me on the family! He is one of those amazing people who makes everyone feel special. He usually says to me, "your are my favorite Honduran in Tulsa" or he will say to Matt, "your are my favorite grandson in Tulsa" or "your are the best engineer that I know." Every time he says it, he really means it and it makes one feel super special.

Quote by Martin Luther

2007-07-11T16:13:00.000-05:00

Matt sent me this a couple weeks ago and I thought it was so good that I needed to share it.

"We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,
sold as a slave to sin." Romans 7:14 (NIV)

Quotation:
In Romans 7, St. Paul says, "The law is spiritual." What
does that mean? If the law were physical, then it could be
satisfied by works, but since it is spiritual, no one can
satisfy it unless everything he does springs from the depths
of the heart. But no one can give such a heart except the
Spirit of God, who makes the person be like the law, so that
he actually conceives a heartfelt longing for the law and
henceforward does everything, not through fear or coercion,
but from a free heart.
... Martin Luther (1483-1546), "Preface to the Letter of
St. Paul to the Romans"

Quiet time reflection:
Lord, lead me to know what You desire from me, and grant a
cheerful heart to do it.

A Consistent Mom

2007-07-09T15:28:00.000-05:00

As I was praying and asking God for a meaningful time with REB the other day and desiring to be a godly mom for her, the Lord showed me something that I have been thinking about and working on. It's neat because about 3 or 4 months ago a friend of mine was telling me about this same issue that she had seen in her parents growing up. I thought about it then, but it didn't hit me at that moment. Not like it hit me yesterday.

The issue that the Lord showed me was about being a consistent mom...not in the context of discipline this time, but being the same mom that I am at home with REB and the same mom when I am out with friends or other people. I want REB to grow up seeing one mama. NOT two mamas - the one at home and the one outside of the home. I struggle with this sometimes because I feel like I am more patient and graceful with her when I am out running around or when people are watching than when it's just the two of us.

Please pray for me that I can be a consistent and godly mom all the time and always honoring God everywhere I am. That I can BE in essence all that God created me to be and that it will be shown in every area of my life when I am alone or when I am around other people.

"Te-tial"

2007-06-29T13:25:00.000-05:00

When I put REB down for a nap or for the evening we have a very special song that I sing to her and it has become her favorite. I used to sing hymns to her a lot because I love hymns...but now that she can communicate with me she is always suggesting her favorite song, which is "te-tial."

Translation:
"te-tial" = "Special"

I learned this song through her Signing Time videos and it is a darling song and it just tells her how special she is to me! I love it and eat it up when she suggests, "te-tial" :)

Here are the words to the song:

Special to me
Today will soon be over
Tomorrow will arrive
Right now I'm going to hold you
Until you close your eyes
Words can't always sum up
The feelings that I have
So peaceful when you're sleeping
I know you hear me still...singing

You are very special to me
and I am very special to you
I know this is where I am meant to be
I'm glad that my baby is you

Exactly what I wanted
Exactly who you are
I know we'll work together
and we will reach the stars
Families stick together
and family last forever
Forever, that's how long I love you

Chorus again

Fresh Flowers

2007-06-28T17:15:00.000-05:00

I love having fresh flowers in the house. It is one of those things that I can never get tired of! I have been blessed that my husband usually brings me fresh flowers very often...smart man ;)
Fresh flowers just make me happy and it just gives that perfect touch to the house.

Here are my first home-grown fresh flowers...

Not bad huh? :) I think my favorite flowers are tulips and roses... and hydrangeas :)

Potty Training...

2007-06-28T14:59:00.000-05:00

Today was my first attempt to potty train REB and it went...well...it went ok :)

I have never potty trained a child before nor have been thinking about it with REB, but today for the first time I noticed REB wanting to go potty. I asked her if she wanted to go potty and for the first time she also said, "potty." So off we go to the potty :) I have a potty for her that someone gave to us a while back and when I go potty, I sit her on her potty and we talk a little bit about going potty.

When she was in her potty she seemed like she was trying to go. I tried to read to her while she was sitting, but she wanted to get up. I tried to teach her that she needed to sit like when mama goes potty, but she started fussing a little so I decided to let her loose and then...well, then the real stuff came out all over the carpet :) It was fine. We cleaned it up and then I took her to get a bath and we had fun. I think I will start doing this when I see that she needs to go potty and see how it goes next time. I will keep you posted!

I also want to thank God for giving me patience and grace and joy at that moment:)

Like little Children...

2007-06-25T14:24:00.000-05:00

About two weeks ago I woke up and was praying for the Ebersoles as the Lord reminded me that it was the day that they were heading down to Brazil to be missionaries :) I was still in bed and was thinking about them and then the Lord gave me an analogy.

I thought of how we as humans are just like little children...let me just tell you what I wrote down...

Michawn had commented in her blog how Grady kept saying, "when are we going to Brazil? What are we waiting for? :)

As I was thinking about them in the plane to Brazil I thought of Grady as he was FINALLY heading down to his beloved Brazil! I bet he was SO excited! I smiled in excitement for him! I bet all that waiting for "nothing" as he probably thought was maybe hard or frustrating for him, but what he might not have understood or known is that somethings needed to happen and take place before the big move, or calling, or answered prayer. All the waiting or the process was just as important and crucial as the leaving or calling or answered prayer.

I think like a child in many ways. I get impatient as I wait for "nothing"-at least this is what I think in my mind. However, God is at work even though we might not see it because it is in the unseen world or in the depths of my heart. I need to remember to give thanks to Him for listening and answering prayers and for His perfect timing!

1 John 5:14-15

2007-06-22T14:09:00.000-05:00

"And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him."
1 John 5:14-15

I just read this passage and it blessed me so much because as we seek to know Him better or for direction, I know that it is HIS will that we know Him better and He does not want to lead us astray either. So, thank you Lord for drawing us closer to you and for guiding us in the direction that You desire. Give us listening ears and open hearts to receive what You have for us!

Aching to be more like Jesus

2007-06-22T13:21:00.000-05:00

I am a cry baby! I cry over anything and everything...this is how the Lord created me. Sometimes I get embarrassed about sharing my own testimony because I always cry in view of what our Lord has done in my life.

Yesterday, I was watching the funeral of Ruth B. Graham and my heart ached and my eyes were full of tears. That morning they had been full of tears as I spent time in His Word. I cried because of a longing and an ache to be more like Jesus. I realize how much work the Lord needs to do in my life. I desire to be like Him and I realize that it is a process and the process is just as important. We will never be perfect like Jesus is...not until we see Him and then we will be like Him. I cannot wait!!!!

My heart aches to be more like Jesus. And as I watched the funeral of Ruth Graham I was so touched again by the same message that was so evident in her life, she loved Jesus with everything in her and was so in tuned with him. I pray that when I die, I can leave that kind of legacy for my children, husband and family. Lord, I want to be like you! Change me and mold me and make me into your beautiful likeness, I pray!

Ruth Bell Graham

2007-06-21T14:15:00.000-05:00

1920-2007

The Lord has taught me so much through the life that Ruth B. Graham lived. She has been a role model to me, even though she never knew it and even though she was 52 years older than me. More than anything, she has challenged me to know God more each day and to love Him with all of my heart, and with all of my strength and with all of my mind and with all of my soul and to love others as myself. Thank you Lord for this living example of a true disciple of Jesus Christ!

You can click on the this link to read more about her!

It's the thought that counts!

2007-06-19T12:47:00.000-05:00

Sunday morning as soon as our neighbor kids noticed we were finally home, two of the girls (sisters) knocked at our door. Matt opened the door and they gave him a wrapped gift for me for my b-day. They must have been wanting to give it to me a while back and I am sure their faces must have been full of smiles as they gave the gift to Matt.

The card said, "I hope you had a great time b-day. Did you have fun? Love, the Pattersons"

On Monday I saw the girls and gave them a big hug and thank you.

Jazmine: You like'd it didn't you!
Me: I loved it! Thank you for thinking of me on my b-day
Jazmine: well, my mom kindda forgot about your b-day. She had bought that gift for my grandma, but my dad did not want to give it to her, so we decided to give it to you!
Me: that was nice of you guys :)

Kids are so honest and so funny sometimes. It has brought a smile to my face every time I think about it. They are so sweet! It's the thought that counts! I cherish that sweet gift from them!

Things REB loves

2007-06-09T09:34:00.000-05:00

Here are a few things that Rebekah loves these days:

Mama y papa
Peas--she will eat them like candy...she is always asking for peas and will even eat them frozen
Black olives--like candy too :)
Playing with water
Being outside--she could be there all day if I let her
Pretending like she is driving--every time Matt comes home from work she squeals with delight and then she signs and says, "Car" and they are usually there for a little bit...it is funny!
Playing with dirt--loves to play with it and eat it too:)
Strawberries
Cheese
Music--she is always asking me to put music on
To dance! It is so funny...as soon as we put that music on she is a dancing fool! It is so cute to watch
Doing ring around the rosie
She loves to "try" to sing and when I sing a song that she doesn't like she says, "no, no" and then I try another one and another one until she finally hears the one that she wants to listen to and "sing"
She loves other children and has a great time when our neighbors come over to our house and visit with us
Going to the Library is one of her favorite things as well. We usually do story time on Tuesdays and sometimes I take her on Wednesdays as well. She enjoys it so much.
She loves to pray with us and she makes sure everyone is holding hands before we can pray. Then at the end, she says a hearty, "MAH-MEN!"

It is fun being a mom and watching Rebekah grow. She is growing so fast and I am enjoying being a stay-at-home mom. I am so blessed to be able to do that!

Consistency and Priorities

2007-06-06T12:34:00.000-05:00

There are so many things that I love about Matt, but as I was putting Rebekah down for her nap today I was thinking about our Good News Club last night. One of those things that I love so much about him was evident last night.

We had one girl show up to our Good News Club. We waited and knocked on the other kids doors, but they were not home. My first thought was, well, we will have to cancel since only one kid showed up. I was wrong :) Matt's response was to go ahead with the study as he said, "Rebekah (the girl that showed up) your are just as important as all the other kids...if it's ok with you, we will do the study with you." She agreed to say and so so we did the lesson with just her. We worked on the memory verse for a while and explained it to her and then we talked about the lesson by refering to other Bible verses. At the end, her and I ended up having a really good conversation about God's will, how we can know His will and what are things that we know for sure about God's will. We had a great talk. We then had our snack and prayed for specific things she wanted us to pray about. It was a special time.

Her mom called today and left the most encouraging message for us about how Rebekah so enjoyed meeting with just us and told her, "it was like having my own Bible mentors all to myself." I realize how important consistency is and how important it is to take time to teach even if it's just one person...because God sent us just Rebekah so that we could minister to her. I thank God for Matt and for his willingness to do the study when it would have been easier to have a restful evening!

Something else about Matt truly blesses my heart and makes me so grateful to have such a commited husband. Last year he was offered a great position at a company that was really about to explode in growth and so he was going to be able to have a huge profit share when the company sold. It would have been great for his career and for us financially. But, with companies like this, they really need people who will work a lot...above what they would normally work. When he was interviewed the 3rd time or so by the guy who would be his boss he asked Matt whether he would be willing to work extra hours and Matt respectfully told him that he would work hard but that his family was more important and that he was not willing to work after hours or weekends. Matt thinks that this is the main reason why he did not get the job...that and of course the Lord not leading us to do this.

I am so grateful to have someone who puts us first! Who desires to see our family grow and be a part of it, than to make lots of money and forsake his family. Thanks babe! You bless my heart in so many ways. You are such a wonderful dad and husband!!!!

While we were still sinners

2007-06-05T09:30:00.001-05:00

There is a lot I could write about, but today I just want to talk about the goodness of our Lord! He is so good :) This is a phrase I can say over and over with a true conviction and with a true joy everytime I say it. I am amazed at how much God loves us! He loves us so much that He gave His one and only son, Jesus, to die on the cross for us...and the Bible says that even when we were still sinners! "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" Romans 5:8. What an awesome God is that! I would not send my son/daughter to die for anyone! I would also not send my son/daughter to die if there was another way. There wasn't another way and that's why Jesus says in John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Last night Matt had his last Colombia meeting and I got to go and support him and be a part of it. They were practicing sharing the gospel with each other and I was the "translator." Wow, I am amazed over and over as I hear that beautiful story. Are you? I hope so. I hope you still get excited and joyful when you hear about God's love for you!

Last night I think I heard the Gospel story said in the most clear way I have ever heard it by one of the guys who is leading the trip. It was breathtaking and so beautifully said! Praise God for His goodness and love toward us! Thank you Jesus!

Ambassadors to Colombia

2007-06-01T09:55:00.000-05:00

The Lord continues to do wonderful things in our lives. He continues to lead and guide us and continues to put His desires in our hearts. Missions is something that we love and suppport and hope to do someday; however, we never had clarity of what or when or where. We always thought of going back to Latin America, but we knew that right now was not the time.

About a month ago we went to a missions conference at church and were so challenged and encouraged by it. It was amazing! The missions conference was more focused on the 10/40 window which is a place that we never have considered before. After the missions conference was over we came home with such a heavy heart, so Matt and I prayed to God "Lord, we are willing vessels to go wherever and whenever you want to send us. Lead us Lord. We are willing." We have prayed this simple prayer before and we have seen the Lord just place things in our laps days later.

All this to say that again, our faithful Lord has placed something in our laps and in this case it's a great opportunity to go to Colombia! We are excited. Rebekah and I will not be going(physically) but of course WE as a family are going in Spirit. Matt will be heading down there in a couple of weeks with a wonderful team and will be doing door to door evangelism and training Colombian nationals to do the same after they leave in order to equip them to continue the work of the Lord in Colombia. They will be partnering with a church to plug the new believers into the body of Christ. Matt is so excited about this opportunity and we are so confident that this is the Lord's doing and not ours. This gives me so much peace. I am so excited as well.

Please pray! This is Matt's request as well, "Click here for our prayer calendar and I would ask that all of you PLEASE PRAY for us. Nothing we are doing is possible without the Lord's power, protection, and guidance. We NEED YOU to be praying for us as we go."

Why I blog

2007-05-30T11:56:00.001-05:00

One of the reasons I started to blog was so that I could get better at writing. Writing is something that I LOVE to do. For me writing is the best way to unravel my deepest thoughts and think and work through them. Writing in English is hard for me because it is my second language. And now, I sometimes mix both languages all together...aaahh! :)

It is interesting, but when I came to know the Lord that's when I truly started to write. What's more interesting is that I started to see more clearly what I really loved to do once I came to know Christ. It's like He started putting His purpose and vision and a love for things that I never knew I had. Before Christ, I was so confused and without purpose at all! In fact, this is one of the the reason of how the Lord drew me to Himself...it is so hard to live without purpose in life. I have LOTS of journals with prayers and thoughts and more prayers to the Lord. Writing helps me talk to the Lord and helps me sort through my true inner thoughts so that the Lord can deal with issues in my life. After I came to know the Lord I started to read more also and now I really enjoy reading. God has done so many great things in my life. He is truly a redeeming God!

Since I had not written much in the last year or so I thought blogging would help me and it has. I blog because I love to write...about life, what I am learning, what God is teaching me, about my family-my daughter and hubby-that I love so much!!!!! God is so good to us :)

If you ever come across my blog and feel like you don't understand at all what I am talking about...it's ok, go to the next blog. I am just learning how to write :)

Our little girl is growing so fast...

2007-05-16T09:14:00.000-05:00

Look at these fun pictures of Rebekah! She is such a joy and learning SO MUCH these days. She loves to giggle and love being outside getting soaked in the water :)

These pictures were taken about 4 weeks ago. We got her a little pool for the summer and she enjoys it. Our neighbors asked us why we didn't get a bigger one so that ALL of them would fit in it :) So they asked, "could we use your chairs so that we can at least put our feet in it" :) They are so funny and Rebekah loves being around them. They take good care of her and love to hold her and make her laugh.

Rebekah also likes to swing in the hammock. She will just lay still while we swing her and it is so fun to watch. Sometimes she will play pick-a-boo with us or sometimes she will simply enjoy the experience.

Ambassadors

2007-05-14T11:03:00.000-05:00

"We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were makings his appeal through us..."
2 Cor 5:20a

This was the verse we discussed in our Good News Club this past week. We started to teach our kids about the Great Commission and it was received so well by our kids. We continue to encourage and challenge them to share the hope of Christ to those they love, but also open their eyes to see not only those around them, but the whole world.

It was so neat to watch them grasp this verse and understand more of their purpose for their lives as followers of Christ.

Some of the highlights from this past Tuesday are the following:

When we were telling them how some people in other countries have never heard of Jesus, Jacob's response was, "I want to go and tell them about Jesus." God has amazing plans for these kids...He truly has and we are so excited to be a small part of it.
At the end of our time together we always pray for each other, but this time we showed them a globe and asked them to pick a country (any country) and it was precious to hear their simple prayer, "God I ask that you would send ambassadors to Ethiopia(etc) and that they would know about Jesus." I was so touched by those prayers!
When they were going home Matt overheard one of the kids ask his mom, "mom, do you believe that God offers forgiveness for your sins?"He kept repeating this while his mom ignored him." God is at work!!! :)

Lord, continue to put your purposes and desires in these children's hearts!

Matt and I sat outside after all the kids left. It was a beautiful night and our hearts could not have been more full of joy and purpose and excitement! We were just talking about how blessed WE are by sharing God's Truth with the children and how God has been so good to us by putting this desire in our hearts and giving us this wonderful opportunity.

God is doing some beautiful things in our hearts and I will share something new that God is doing in the next blog...so make sure you check it out soon :)

So many things in my heart right now...

2007-05-09T14:21:00.000-05:00

I just called home (Honduras) and my grandma is soon to be with the Lord. I am so sad, but so happy for her because she will be with our Lord and what a beautiful place she will be in!

She is in her last moments and all of her 10 children and many grandkids and great-grands are there with her. I will miss my grandma, but I will see her again :)

Some of the memories I have of my grandma are from real little. Every time I would come see her she would have some kind of fruit for me because she knew how much I loved to eat fruit. She didn't only raise ten children, but raised many, many grandkids and great-grands. She loved children and loved being surrounded by them. She liked to dance and we had our last dance together this past Christmas when we were in Honduras. She had a great sense of humor! She was so funny :)

Abuelita, I love you and I will miss you so much! Nos vemos en el cielo :)

note: My grandma actually went to be with the Lord yesterday at about 2:40 p.m. Please pray for all of our family.

It's like a love letter written for you...

2007-05-02T19:47:00.000-05:00

I heard this a couple nights ago as I was watching a Billy Graham Crusade from 1978...the year that I was born :)

A lady was giving her testimony and she had given her life to Christ 25 years back. She said that her counselor was Ruth B. Graham. Ruth encouraged her to grow and read her Bible and she said the above quote, "It's like a love letter written for you."

I thought, what a beautiful way of saying it and personalizing it. And what a beautiful picture of what His Word is to us as well.

2007-05-02T11:48:00.000-05:00

"But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does."
James 1:25

This is the verse that we memorized yesterday in our Good News Club. What an amazing verse! As we kept talking about it and learning it with the kids it just truly became so much more meaningful and full of life! His Word is truly alive and active!

I love the promise that comes when we look intently(examining, closely) at His Word. Not just on Sundays or just to get it out of the way, but continually and not just reading it, but doing what it says...and when we do this, His Word promises that we will be blessed in what we do. When we are obedient to His Word and we do what it says there is a for sure blessing that comes with it. Like we told the kids last night, "it does not necessarily mean a lollipop :)" but it means something better and more meaningful that that! And isn't that true! The peace, joy, hope and all those spiritual blessings are amazing and so much more worth than any material thing we can receive. As Matt and I talked about this verse this morning I was so overjoyed and challenged to be obedient and a doer of His Word. In it is a great reward! Lord, give us a desire, longing and thirst for Your Word!

Our kids are so special! We are blessed to be able to be a part of their lives! How much they are learning and how much they desire to live those Truths is truly amazing. I have been praying almost daily for them, that the Lord would set them apart for Him. That our Lord will use them mightly for His Kingdom! I can already see them going to all the nations proclaiming His hope and love to those who have never heard. Lord, continue the work that you have started in them.

2007-04-30T08:58:00.000-05:00

God is peace. He is peace indeed. Sometimes we cannot understand why things happen or for what intent, but God is sovereign and holy and good. As I think back about last week and having that unfortunate miscarriage, in spite of everything that was happening I had this incredible peace within me. Yes, I was discouraged and very sad because of the hopes we had for this little life that the Lord had created in me. And yet at that moment I just had peace, and today I have peace. He is our trust and our hope. HE is our Rock and our Salvation. I know that it is God alone that makes me feel hopeful about tomorrow.

It is so neat how the Lord goes before us and truly prepares the way for us as He allowed such a sweet time with Matt and Rebekah in OKC...it was such a peaceful and special day we had. I felt like it was a gift from God because He loves us and is so caring and gentle. He hurts when we hurt. And Again, I realize how loved we are by our families and by the body of Christ...the calls and emails and even the flowers, the love that we received from everyone. We are so blessed to have them.

God you are so awesome, SO SO awesome. Thank you so much God. Thank you for Jesus Christ--that He died so that we can truly have life. Lord help us to share this hope that we have and this amazing gift the we have been given. Help us to carry it to the next generation...to the ends of the world. Give us a passion that will truly ignite our hearts. Help us to see that this hope is worth SO much more that anything this world can offer. We have such a great obligation! To share Christ's love and hope to the world. Why can’t we see that? Why are we so blind and self-focused that we don’t see the big picture. Please forgive us God. We are willing vessels Lord to do whatever, wherever, whenever...Here are we, send us!

God does not give us more than we can handle!

2007-04-18T14:01:00.000-05:00

Sometime late fall of last year our neighborhood kids next door were not coming to our Good News Club and I did not even see the kids playing out in the street. Matt and I decided to pay the parents a visit to ask about the kids and to tell them that we have missed seeing their kiddos at our Tuesday night club.

After talking with the mom we realized that they were struggling financially and were very stressed. The kids would go for about an hour to our neighbors across the street and then come to our house. For this, they would pay the kid who was taking care of them $10. We had a feeling that it had something to do with that, so Matt and I talked about this before going over and decided that if it was a financial problem, that we would take their kids early. We were both dying to ourself...in my flesh I did not want to do this, but I knew that these kids souls were more important than that hour of rest/dinner/preparation or whatever we needed to do.

The kids, ages 3, 6, 9, started coming earlier and boy they had energy :) It was such a hard time because a lot of the times we were getting ready for dinner or for the evening and the kids wanted to play. I had to pray lots for the Lord to give me grace to do this. I will admit that sometimes I had a really bad attitude about it, but I never told the Lord to provide another way for the kids. I only asked for His grace. God always did give us the grace needed. Many times the parents brought their kids earlier than we had agreed to and they would sometimes pick them up close to 10:00 pm!!! These were some very hard nights.

This past week we realized that bowling was over for the parents so the kids are now coming at the same time that the other kids come. I can't tell you how amazing that was this past Tuesday :) I could only thank our Lord for His goodness toward us. You know, He never gives us more than we can handle. I was glad that I never complained and truly I did not even realize it until that evening. What a great God we serve! He gives us all that we need to be equipped to serve Him. I love that serving God does not mean that we have to go to another country, although this is good and some people's calling, for us it has been the calling to serve God in our neighborhood, at work (for Matt), the body of Christ and everyone that we come in contact with.

Thank you Lord for using us to be your tools so that others can come to have a relationship with you. What an honor it is. You do the work...we are just willing vessels. May Your name be glorified!

Big Sister!

2007-04-16T09:23:00.000-05:00

Yes, we are pregnant indeed! We are excited one more time for this little blessing from above. We are so looking forward to this year and what is ahead of us! I believe that for me it will be a year of believing God's promises and of much growth. I am excited and look forward to all that the Lord will teach us through this pregnancy and after the baby is born. I believe that it will be a year of total dependence on Him, which it should always be, but it is something that I am learning to do more every day. It will be a year in which God's Word will become truly alive and active in my life and take root in my heart. I am so excited for this journey that we will be taking as a family.

Please pray for us (Matty, Rebekah and I) and for our little one. Again, we will not find out the sex of the baby...it is much more fun that way :)

Some sweet and fun memories...

2007-04-11T13:24:00.000-05:00

A couple days ago after Rebekah woke up from her nap she was signing "bath" and so I said let's eat first, but she kept signing "bath." I wanted her to eat first and then take her bath, but she then pointed to the bathroom and said, "bath" :) When I said bath back to her, she had a huge grin in her face. She had a great bath time. We then watched her signing video while she had her lunch. It was quite a treat for her. She is so cute!!!!!!!!!

Like I mentioned before, I love rocking my little girl before bed. It doesn't always happen, but I try to...it's just a special time for us. After breastfeeding her I tell her, "rock" and she will say it too and lay on my shoulder or chest :) She is sweet, sweet!

Rebekah loves to pretend like she is laughing, especially when I laugh :) It is cute to watch.

When Matt and I are driving together and I run out to get something real quick Rebekah doesn't like it, so I have come up with something to cheer her up a little. When I return to the car I sneak up and jump back and forth in front of the car and wave at her and do all kinds of crazy things...I am sure the other people who are watching are probably like, "ok, this mom has gone nuts here..." But I really don't care. I actually love making her giggle. When I get in the car she is just laughing away. It is too cute.

Train up a child...

2007-04-11T09:01:00.000-05:00

"Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it"
Proverbs 22:6

As I was putting Rebekah to bed last night after our Good News Club kids left. I was listening to this verse on her little radio. She has these Scripture songs that she listens to when she naps or when I put her down for the night. The first verse in the CD is the one above.

I have been singing this verse a lot lately because the song is pretty catchy and sweet :) As I was breastfeeding her and rocking her to bed (something I love to do), the Lord truly helped me to see clearly what it means to train up Rebekah as I was thinking about the crazy evening we just had with all the kids at the house :)

Rebekah does well for the most part, but sometimes it's close to her bed time and she acts like it :) She played well for a while and then she just wanted to play with the toys that the other three year old was playing with. We were busy teaching the kids while taking care of Rebekah, getting the kids attention and trying to keep some good conversations going...a lot of stuff to do at once :) So, sometimes when all this is going on I tend to ignore what she is doing. Matty is better at this, which is a good thing! This is why I think the Lord reminded me about this training stuff last night. I was choosing not to train her because it was one less thing to worry about.

As I was sitting and thinking about this verse the Lord showed me the importance of training my little girl not only because "it's the right thing to do", although this is good, but because I am training her for her future! As I train her now, this is the person that she will become 5, 10 or 20 years from now. I am building her character and so this is why it is important for me to take the time to train her up so that when she grows old she will become the young lady and woman that God created her to be. I don't want her to grow up to be selfish and prideful and to always think of herself. I want her to be selfless, humble and to put others first.

It is not easy sometimes to be consistent, but it is crucial when you are training your children for the future. I read a quote a couple days ago that says, "Life is a battleground and homelife and schooling should be a training ground." Another one that I think of often is, "I don't want to make you happy, I want to make you good." something like that... :)

I love how the Lord gently leads us as we raise Rebekah. I love how He shows us our faults so that we can be better and honor him through our lives. Praise His sweet name!

What are you passionate about?

2007-04-06T08:52:00.000-05:00

In college and for the longest time I struggled with this question. You know, I was never the "best" at something. I could do a lot of things but I was not truly really good or passionate about some specific thing. I knew that I was passionate about the Lord, His Word and His kingdom. I love Him so much! For some reason I struggled because beside this, not to diminish my love and passion for God, but I felt like I had not much to offer others.

As I became a wife I started to see some of my passions more clearly and as I became a mom I definitely started seeing why God created me. He created me mostly for Himself and for His glory and now with my two roles I am so completely satisfied!

I love my husband and daughter and more than anything I love that the Lord has given me a passion for them...to be an excellent wife and mother. I was sitting one day all by myself and it was then that my question was answered and felt a true and deep joy within me that I was doing what God wanted me to do. Stay home with my daughter and take care of a hungry husband :) who will eat anything I make (that'a bonus:))

I thought, I love and am passionate about cleaning and making this house a home where my husband can come after work and feel happy and at peace (an oasis) and I love making goodies and yummy things. I love to cook and I love keeping my house clean and organized. I love staying at home! I really do. I hate it when I am busy and can't enjoy the quietness of our home. I love staying at home and keeping busy at home. I like making memories for my little girl...I started a scrapbook for her (which I have never made before and never thought I would) but I made it because I wanted Rebekah to look back to her first year with us and to see in picture (and in this scrapbook that I made with so much love) how much we loved and enjoyed her. I did a little b-day party for her and I enjoyed it throughly. I did not want it for it to be fancy, but mostly I wanted it to be special and celebrate with our family and close friends this wonderful year we had with her. I also love when I try new recipes and my husband always says, "you are the best cook" and this makes me want to try more and new things. I enjoy having people over and get to know them in the privacy of our home. Matt and I both love that and we try to have someone over at least 2 or 3 times per month. I enjoy preparing for it and getting out our nice entertainment stuff and making it nice for our guest. I see it as a blessing that we can do this for someone else. I also love being silly and crazy with Matt and Rebekah...I get myself so wrapped up in it sometimes that Matt probably thinks I have gone nuts or something, but the constant giggle of my little girl and Matt just makes all the difference and I can go on and on and on.

We have talked about homeschooling and I feel that this is what we are supposed to do and I am already praying and asking God for direction on that. I am so excited and look forward to doing this with my kiddos. I know that it will be challenging at times, but when you have the conviction that this is what you need to do, I know God will help you through it as well. I am so excited!

So, I just told you what I am passionate about....how about you? What are you passionate about? What fills you with joy?

Some pictures...

2007-04-05T13:37:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures
of our little girl. These are also from that photo session and they are great!

I like the one with her hands lifted high because this picture shows her little character more. She is a very happy little girl and loves to giggle.

The one with her and I kissing I like too because this is one thing that we do in our family a LOT...we kiss and kiss and kiss and hug and hug and we are just very affectionate :) Rebekah loves it too and she loves to kiss us even when we don't ask for a kiss. She is a very sweet girl.

The one of her starring is just shows how gorgeous she is :)

The one of her walking and showing that sweet face that she has is just her too. Rebekah is a very gentle and sweet girl. She is so kind too.

We are so grateful for being parents and having such a sweet, loving and beautiful girl to love on! Thank you Lord!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow...

2007-04-03T09:01:00.000-05:00

Yes, God is faithful and good and we are not. As of March (2007) the Lord paid off our debt (this does not include our mortgage) and we are extremely grateful to Him for doing this. We had been working hard at it, but the Lord is the one who deserves all of the glory. We actually did not think that we would be out of debt until the end of this year, but the Lord in His goodness paid it off :)

We received a big tax return this year and so we put it all toward paying off debt and we also received some random money for a sound wall that they are building behind our house and with these two checks, we are now able to live in the freedom of owning man nothing. Like I mentioned before, we still have our house to pay off and this is our next goal and prayer request.

I remember Matty faithfully praying and asking the Lord to pay off our debt and we have seen His mighty hand do it whenever we least expected it. Now we faithfully pray to the Lord to pay off our house. He will do it in His perfect timing and plan. I like asking God without giving Him my "wisdom" or "knowledge" of how He "should" do things. I like His results and I know that they are better than anything I could have pictured to be "perfect."

As Matty and I were talking about being debt free Matt asked me, "why do you think things happened all of a sudden?" That same morning I asked myself the same question and the Lord reminded me that He did it so that we would not be prideful about it thinking, "well, we worked so hard and we saved all of our pennies and boy it was hard work, but we made it!" He wanted to receive all the glory and wanted us to praise Him for what He did...He wanted to remind us of His faithfulness and love toward us and He also wanted us to have mercy and grace on those who are in debt...to see them not with haughty eyes, but to help them out! Yes, we did do things to get us there, but it was ultimately HIS hand who provided the increase and paid off our debt.

I love God! He is so sovereign and good to us. He is in control and we are not. I love the way He helps me see that. What a great God we serve!

Ruth Bell Graham

2007-03-27T08:38:00.000-05:00

I love to read about Ruth Bell Graham (Billy Graham's wife) because it always challenges me to know God more! Matty got me her book, "It's My Turn" a while back and I have read it three times and I am about to start it again. This book has really short stories about her life in China, Wheaton College, her as a wife and mother and very practical and challenging stories that encourage me to be better--a better mother, wife, to know God intimately, etc.

I have learned lots from this woman of God, but what I love the most is how close she is with God...how much she desires Him and how she lives it out everyday in her life. She is a wonderful testimony to her children and everyone around her because she is in constant communion with our heavenly Father. When we are in constant communion with Him we become like Him and that makes all the difference.

I want to be like Ruth Bell Graham! I want to leave a legacy for my children and grandchildren and husband...and everyone of one who loved God with all her heart, mind, soul and strength. And this, my friends, is all I desire.

Some cute pictures...

2007-03-16T13:06:00.000-05:00

Rebekah loves to play in the puddles and I don't mind it, except that her shoes get pretty dirty :) I am thinking about getting her some rubber boots so that she can just splash away in those puddles and mama won't have to wash those shoes everyday. When I was little, my brothers and I used to splash in the puddles that the rain left in the town that we grew up in (we had dirt roads), except we would go barefoot :) As soon as we saw my dad we would run like crazy because he didn't like it...he was just worried that a nail or some glass would get in our feet...but we did not care then, until we got stitches :) countless times we did.

Fun times! Here is our little girl splashing away...enjoy!

More signing progress

2007-03-14T12:01:00.000-05:00

Rebekah continues to progress, seems more rapidly now, with her signing. It is amazing how much she learns and it is exciting to watch her learn more signs and learn to communicate with us.

These are some new words she is signing to us:
-walk
-flower
-book
-read book
-bread
-sit
-play
-hot
-bath
-colors
-swim
-banana-she mainly says this one, but she understands when we sign it

She also understands potty, change diaper, dirty, come...

I think some of these words are pretty big for her, but I am so excited that she is learning them. We bought her 3 videos for her b-day with money she got from grandparents and auntie. She loves them! She is always signing, "Signing Time." Of couse she can't watch them all day, but she watches at least one per day. She is really putting them to good use. We figure our other kiddos will benefit from them as well...so we think it's a good investment :)

So much fun...

2007-03-10T13:39:00.000-06:00

I have been having a blast with Rebekah lately She is learning SO MUCH these days! She. watches everything with amazement and tries new things all the time. She loves to explore and absolutely loves to be outside. The weather has been so nice these days that we can actually be outside and enjoy it :)

I bought her some gardening tools the other day so that we can plant some plants together this spring and take care of them (it is something that I love to do) and she was so intrigued with all of them. It was so much fun to watch. She loves to play in the dirt and loves her little tools that she can dig the dirt out :)

I also bought her some sunglasses for this summer and I put them on her while we were outside playing with her tools and she had them on for the longest time :) It was so funny.

She is also into bubbles and she can actually say bubbles too :) I am so blessed to be able to spend so much time with her. God is so good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spring is in the air

2007-03-09T09:03:00.000-06:00

It is raining this morning and we slept in a little :) Rebekah is still sleeping so I had a nice cup of coffee and was able to read from Psalm 147. Such an awesome Psalm. I was reminded of our great and mighty Creator. How powerful He is!

Read this:

Psalm 147:7-18
Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
make melody to our God on the lyre!
He covers the heavens with clouds;
he prepares rain for the earth;
he makes grass grow on the hills.
He gives to the beasts their food,
and to the young ravens that cry.
His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.
Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!
For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
he blesses your children within you.
He makes peace in your borders;
he fills you with the finest of the wheat.
He sends out his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.
He gives snow like wool;
he scatters hoarfrost like ashes.
He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;
who can stand before his cold?
He sends out his word, and melts them;
he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.

Praise is the proper response to our wonderful Creator! May you praise Him today for He is God Almighty and our beautiful Creator. Enjoy His creation today!

Photo Session...

2007-03-08T11:36:00.000-06:00

We had not had pictures taken as a family since Rebekah was born. I found this girl through a good friend of mine and she was fabulous! I just told her what our family was like and that I wanted something that showed that in our pictures. She came to our house and took pictures of Rebekah and us interacting with her. We then went downtown and she just told us to do what we normally do and that she would just take some shots of us being a family. She is really talented and we felt so comfortable around her. We still have not gotten all the pictures, but she did send us a sneak peak of some of them.

I wanted to share a few of those pictures with you :) Enjoy!

Rejoice in your salvation!

2007-03-01T20:51:00.000-06:00

While we were in Seattle I was able to have some really good times in God's Word and felt so refreshed and renewed. As Rebekah and I spent time together during the day, I would look at that beautiful city and it made me worship God through music. I felt so honored to be called His daughther...how He saved me for His glory! What an AMAZING thing He did for me...for all of us! "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. " John 3:16

I don't know about you guys, but I still get so excited and so chocked up when I am reminded of what He did for me! Worship songs about Him make me want to sing ever louder and scream to the top of my lungs and tell him how much I love Him because He FIRST loved me. What an amazing Abba Father we serve.

May you rejoice in your salvation today! May you continue to stand in awe of Him. May you think back on that day when He saved you from death!!!! Wow! and may you praise His name the rest of your life and live a life of worship !

Here is a picture of me at the hotel in Seattle...these days I have to be a little more creative and flexible when I spend time with Him...In Seattle I spent time with the Lord in the hotel's bath tub while Rebekah took naps ;)

Rebekah's 1st B-day Party!

2007-02-21T20:46:00.000-06:00

Rebekah had a blast at her 1st b-day party! She played with her cousin, Genesis, and her friend, Ava. She LOVED her b-day cake, which I made and Sydna helped me decorate (I am really proud of it :)). She opened presents and was so happy. She had a great time.

She had never had cake before, so this was her first piece of cake to try and boy did she love it! She smeared it all over herself and once she was done she put her plate to her mouth and started liking the plate :) It was so funny to watch!!!

Welcome Alastair Benjamin Caffey!

2007-02-19T11:57:00.000-06:00

Congratulations Sanja and Tony on your sweet and beautiful little baby. We are praying for you!

Signing progress...

2007-02-14T13:14:00.000-06:00

Thought I would give you guys an update on how Rebekah is doing with her signing. She is actually doing really well! She is signing a lot more now that I am being more proactive about it. She is signing food, cracker, all done, please, thank you, sleep, she tried snow today and she can do it! She can also sign more. Her favorite is cracker :) She loves her crackers. I am so grateful that she can communicate that to me. She is also signing milk...that is also one of her favorites :) She is a funny little girl. She sometimes tries to sign stuff, but I have NO idea what she is trying to sign. She actually signs, "signing time"...sort of. When she wants the video she signs it for me. Smart girl! She is getting better and better every day. I am enjoying it as well.

She can't sign but understands book, read book, play, change diaper, dirty, hot, bath and some other words that I can't think of. I am hoping that with time she will learn to sign these as well.

I continue to teach her to sign friend and play. Not sure she gets friend yet :) I am also teaching her cold when she wants to go outside and it is FREEZING outside:)

I will keep you posted!

Sweet Little Valentine....

2007-02-14T12:30:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day from our little valentine :) and monkey of course ;)

The good, the bad and the ugly...

2007-02-13T07:48:00.000-06:00

I was talking with Matt this morning about my struggles so that we could pray together because I definitely need those prayers! Rebekah is a year old now! She is a wonderful little girl, but a sinner :) I am desperately wicked as well, apart from God. I am still going through that sanctification process and it is painful at times.

As I was sharing with Matty my struggles I was telling him how frustrated I have felt the last couple of days. I still struggle with my role of being a mother...that takes all of me. Don't get me wrong, I love being a mom and I feel so privileged to be able to be a mother, but, there are struggles that go on in my life. If I want to be a good and godly mother to Rebekah, that means that I have to give her all my love, give her the time that she needs, etc. I need to be there 100% for her, especially right now that she is so dependant on me. My struggle is laying everything else down so that I can fully embrace and concentrate on her. This is how it goes, "Rebekah is playing with a toy and she wants me to be right there, but not only in presence...she wants me to BE THERE and play with her. I, on the other hand, want to finish the scrapbook that I am making for her...I want to get the dishes done while she plays around me. She will do that for a little bit, but truly she is the happiest when I am at her level...playing, being silly, loving her. Only at this level can I truly love her and be patient with her and truly embrace what she is doing."

This is hard for me...I am one of those type of people who want a clean house, read a book...use my time as much as possible and it frustrates me when I can't get anything done. I know that this is my fault and that I need to let go! More than anything, I want to be an excellent mother and wife. This is more important to me than anything else. But the laundry still needs to get done, the dishwasher needs to be loaded and unloaded, bathrooms need to be cleaned up! I truly wish I could have someone to help out with those things so that I can focus completely on Rebekah but I don't. Then I think, I only have ONE child :) How am I going to handle two, three or four!?

This is not an anti mom post, but these are things that go on in my heart and mind in a daily basis. These are some questions I ask myself sometimes. I KNOW that our Lord is great, mighty and awesome! I was reading in Acts 17:24-25 how He is Lord of heaven and earth! He is powerful...and He is watching me 24/7! The only thing I can tell you is that being a mom keeps me humbled, broken before the Lord and truly dependant on Him. It is a good thing, yet at the same time it is a painful process. I remember talking to my friend Kelley a long time ago about being married and having children and she said that husbands and kids are a part of that sanctification process and how they are a mirror for us to see all of our shortcomings. God is definitely using our little girl to show me my selfishness, impatience and my lack of love. I thank the Lord for Rebekah! I love her to pieces...all this hurts so much because I want Rebekah to have a wonderful home. I think that sometimes to me that means being "perfect" and that I will never be. Like Paul said at the end of Romans 7 as he himself struggled with wanting to do what was right and ending up doing what he did not want to do, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing." BUT then he ends it so beautifully when he says, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. Romans 7:24-25. This is exactly how I feel...ONLY God can deliver me, help me to become a godly mother and wife so that He Himself will receive all the glory, not me. I love you Lord so much! I need you!

Here is a picture of Rebekah's b-day celebration. We took her to Zios for dinner and we gave her a little bit of that cool whip... we try to not give her sweets at all, so this was a special treat for her :) She liked it, but she liked her bread better ;) Smart girl :)

Rebekah's first year with us slideshow...Enjoy!

2007-02-10T17:55:00.000-06:00

Rebekah's 1st Year with us! El Primer Año de Rebekah con Nosotros!

Rebekah is a year old...well, on Monday :) Here is a brief recap of how much she has changed this year. She is a funny little girl with a sweet personality. Click on the picture to see the full slideshow :) Happy 1st B-day Rebekah :) We love you so much!

Who is God?

2007-02-09T12:12:00.000-06:00

This is what we taught our Good News club kids this past Tuesday. We met for the first time this year and it was so good to meet with those kids again. They were so excited to be here and I still could not figure out why they would be so excited to come back to us...but I later realized how prideful I was being. Yes, prideful because it is not about me or Matt or Rebekah that they are here, but it is because our Lord has given them a hunger to learn about Him. It is because of the Lord that they want to come back and not because of us. God is amazing, awesome and good! I know this and it will never change the awesomeness of who He is! I felt so priviledged to be sharing His Truth with the kids.

Only the girls came this time but it worked well because Matt had to prepare a lesson for church on Wednesday, so I decided to help him out this time by preparing and teaching the lesson for our Good News Club. I had a blast with the girls while Matt played with Rebekah and Brittany. It was neat to see those girls opening up to me, but what I loved the most was to see how they were so intrigued and hungry to learn about who God is!!! I loved it :)

Again, we feel SO BLESSED to share God's love and Truth with these kids. Praise His Name!!!!

Falling more in love....

2007-02-08T11:45:00.000-06:00

Yep, that's right! I am falling more in love with my husband :) We were in Seattle last week and for some reason I was overwhelmed with the realization of how blessed I am to be married to the most loving man that I have ever met in my life! I am amazed at how much Matt loves me and Rebekah. Truly, I have never felt more loved in my life and it only gets better! I keep telling Matt how he has truly embraced the Word of God where it says, "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself." Ephes. 5:25-28

As a recipient of that love I feel so priviledged and it confirms more and more how it was God who brought us together for His glory. I am more and more confident and grateful to the Lord for such wonderful man of God who loves me so much. I also see him how he loves Rebekah and it truly melts my heart! He is so tender, loving and such a teacher to her. It is a beautiful picture. Thank you Lord for blessing me with this man that is a radiant light of Your love!

"Love never fails. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away." 1 Cor. 13:8

Seattle here we come!

2007-01-29T12:10:00.000-06:00

We are heading to Seattle on Wednesday because Matty has some training to do for tac. It will be lots of fun. I have never been to Seattle before, but I have heard some really neat things about it. We are excited! We are mostly excited that we can be with Matty and not have to stay home by ourselves :) I love being with my husband :) He is a wonderful man and loves us so much. We are so blessed. Thanks also to tac that we can all go!

Have any of you been to Seattle? What are some places that I must visit??

Here comes the monkey lover...

2007-01-29T12:03:00.000-06:00

Rebekah has a little monkey that she likes a lot! Here are some pictures of her with her monkey. She cuddles with him, kisses him, sleeps with him, plays with him and even eats with him. It is so cute!

God is faithful!

2007-01-23T12:57:00.000-06:00

It is neat how when you seek God for direction, He is faithful to lead us. As Matt and I raise Rebekah there are many times that we don't know how to handle different situations. We pray a lot every day for the Lord to lead and give us wisdom and discernment to raise Rebekah. More than anything we want to raise children who love God and who glorify Him in everything. This is not easy in this day and age that we live in, but we are called to live at a much higher standard than this world and it starts with us. As we immitate Christ, then our children can follow our example and be Christ-like as well.

Rebekah is at a stage right now (she will be one one year old in about a 3 weeks) that she gets frustrated and upset sometimes and it is hard for us to convey to her, or vice-versa, what we want from her. We have been talking and praying about this.

This morning we went to the library to do storytime together and there was a 15 month old little girl in from of us. She kept signing back to her mom and I was truly impressed with her ability to communicate. We have been teaching Rebekah some sign language and it has truly helped a lot! She can say about eight Spanish words as well plus the sign language she has learned has helped too. As she is getting older though, we all need to communicate better!

I talked to this mom after the story time and I told her how impressed I was by this little girl. She told me that she has loved being able to communicate with her daughter because this little girl has not thrown hardly any tantrums because she is able to communicate better and so she understands what she needs or wants. She told me about some videos to check out at the library - Signing Time.

I checked one out (they only had one out of 13 videos available) and I just got done learning so much!!! It was an awesome video. As I was watching it I felt like the Lord truly answered our prayers about wisdom and direction. I am excited for Rebekah and for us :) I will keep you posted on our progress. If any of you have anything to add, would you please share some thougths as well. I am all ears!

It's Official!

2007-01-23T08:21:00.000-06:00

Congratulations Matty for your promotion to Project Development Team Leader!!! We are so proud of you! You have worked so hard and have shown excellence as you have served our Lord at TAC! The Lord has given you favor and will continue to do so as you walk humbly with Him. I am so happy and excited for you.

We love you so very much...you're the man ;) May our Lord continue to give you favor and help you be excellent in all that you do so that He can be glorified and shine through you!

You are the BEST!

p.s. thought I would put a pic of the whole crew congratulating you...Rebekah congratulates you as well though :)

This man that I love....

2007-01-22T08:46:00.000-06:00

This man that I love so much is my dad and he had me bawling this morning. You see, as far as I know, he does not know the Lord nor has a relationship with Jesus Christ. I had a dream a couple days ago that has kept us praying for my dad more than the usual.

Ever since I came to know the Lord myself the Lord has put this passion in my heart to see my dad and my whole family come to know Him. For some reason, this has been stronger with my dad. I love my dad deeply. He is a wonderful man whom the Lord had given him a BIG heart. He is a gifted doctor and he is passionate and loves what he does. He loves people and he is loved by many.

I have shared Christ with my dad many times before, through letters, phone conversations, personally and I pray also that through my life he can see a living example of someone who has also been redeemed and who lives her life to glorify him. As Matty and I have been married, we continue to pray for my dad, love him, and live to be a light to him.

As we were at the airlport leaving Honduras to head back to the U.S. a doctor approached my dad and hugged him. This man said that he shares Christ and His Truth with my dad whenever he sees him. This man also told us, in from of my dad, "This man has a BIG heart but he needs Christ." I agreed and thanked the man for sharing God's Truth with my dad. I could tell that my dad loved and appreciated this man.

You see, my dad is not against or does not resist the Truth. He is the most tender-hearted man I know, but there is something that keeps him from surrendering his life completely to Christ.

As I have known the Lord it has been neat to see the many people who love my dad that they are willing to share His Truth with him. I know of one old nurse who goes to my dad's clinic to read the Word of God to him! I was at the hospital with my dad a while back when the nurses that worked with him surrounded him and prayed for him and his salvation! Wow! That is truly the Lord and I cannot tell you how excited that makes me.

God is good and we wait for the time when the Lord will save my dad and will use him to serve Him! What a glorious day that will be! Would you pray for my dad today!?

Back in Tulsa, OK

2007-01-17T07:35:00.000-06:00

We have been back for about a week now and I am still catching up on things here in the house. It is so crazy all the work that goes on after traveling, but with God's help, I am making lots of progress! Yey!!!

We were in Longview this past weekend for a wedding that I was in. It was a nice wedding and I enjoyed so much being a part of it. The Lord has truly blessed us with wonderful friends.

As I was in Honduras I was reminded of a couple of things:

1. My family is part of the ministry that the Lord has us here for. We were reminded to continue to pray fervently for them
2. Friends and family are the greatest blessing anyone can posess...cherish them, love them, minister to them and be a blessing to them.
3. We are not supposed to move to Honduras right now, although there is a great desire within us
4. Burning desire to be a light to others in every area of our lives and that comes first by having a fervent, close and intimate relationship with our Lord and Savior

Christmas in Honduras

2007-01-03T15:42:00.000-06:00

The day was Christmas Eve and some of us spent the day cleaning the house while my mom made the customary Pierna de Cerdo (Roast pork leg), turkey, mashed potatoes and penne pasta in alfredo sauce. It took the whole day to cook our meal which would start at midnight.

We went to a church service at about 7:15 pm which started at about 8:00 pm because they were waiting for more people to arrive, but it is a very cultural thing here in Honduras that sometimes people arrive very late. After two hours of worship mixed with short skits that the youth had put together, we had to leave to head for the Kennedy and the pastor had not even given his message yet. It was about 10:00 pm when we headed to visit with my grandma and family who live in a subdivision called La Kennedy. When we arrived the party was in full swing with music and dancing and laughing and all that goes on at parties here in Honduras. The music was really loud and ranged from old ballads to merengue to punta to regatton. Everyone was eager to help the gringo (Matt) learn to move those hips :) It was quite a scene and they were all pretty impressed that he could dance so well. My dad even thought he was drinking because he was so loose on the dance floor :)

There were about 20 adults plus 8 roaming and wild kids running around in a room about 10´by 15´ while my cousin tried to run her pulperia (a very small convenience store) in a small room on the side of the house . It was crowded, but so much fun! Rebekah slept through most of it in the back bedroom which was only about 15 ´from the living room so there was not much quiet. Just before midnight we turned on the radio to count down the seconds until Christmas day and there was much excitement. People in the alley were starting to get their fireworks ready to usher in the 25th. When the radio announced that midnight had come we all hugged and kissed each other and wished each other Merry Christmas. I truly enjoyed that moment as I hugged my family after four years of celebrating apart from them in the states. It was special! Fireworks were going off in the alley as we passed around plates of food and everyone ate.

We had been thinking and praying for an opportunity to share the true meaning of Christmas and Christ with our family sometime during the Christmas Eve celebration and up to that point we hadn´t seen an opportunity to bring the family together to share with them. We had tried to make plans, but they had failed. But the Lord in His Sovereignty had already gone before us. We were both surprised when Tio (uncle) John asked Matt and I to pray for the whole family. As he gathered everyone and we all joined hands, Matt shared about the reason why we celebrate Christmas and that only in Christ can we truly love each other. I also added that only in having a relationship with Christ can we truly be fulfilled and that other things such as alcohol, relationships, material possessions will never be able to satisfy that void in our hearts. Then we prayed and we were amazed and grateful to the Lord that He had given us this opportunity that we had so desired. God is good and He is truly glorified!

After a while, we came back to my parent´s house where the party continued all night long...literally :) We went to bed at about 3:30 am and we heard the booming of the stereo and occasional fireworks until 6:30 am. That´s some wild party! Fortunately Rebekah slept through all of it, and unfortunately we didn´t :) We were up by 9:00 am with a very active and happy little girl :)

All the family came over Christmas day for the food my mom had prepared and we ate once again.

All in all, I enjoyed most of the celebration and most importantly being able to be with my parents, grandma, cousins, uncles and aunts and all the kids! It was a blast. In all the celebration, I was somewhat disappointed that the focus was so secular (drinking, dancing, eating, etc) and that Christ was pretty much out of the picture except for the one moment the Lord gave us to share about Jesus Christ. It truly is an empty and worthless life without Christ. I am grateful for salvation and that Matt and I have the opportunity to raise our family as a new generation that will serve and glorify God in all that we do.

Part 2: El Sur

2006-12-27T21:48:00.000-06:00

My dad wanted to take us to the ocean to see the really pretty view of the nearby island of Amapala. We drove through a pretty good road to coyolito, a small town on the edge of the bay and it was beautiful! The road literally ended at the ocean and we drove right up to the end of it. On our way back my dad still wanted us to see a beach and when my dad sets his mind on something, nothing can stop him...literally :) We took the first turn that he thought led to the beach. The road was paved, but narrow and curvy and at times the foliage blocked part of the road. It looked like it had been built for a reason that never happened. When we got to the end of the road, there was no beach and no view of the ocean; just a small electrical substation. At this point Matt theorized that this road may have been built by thieves to trap unsuspecting tourists, so we quickly turned around and headed back to the main road. Rebekah had fallen asleep by this time and we thought we were headed back home on the smooth highway; however, my dad had set his mind on getting us to the beach so we were going to try all the possible side roads.

We then saw a sign that said Playa something and before we could say, ¨HOLY FRIJOLES!¨my dad had made the dreadful turn unto the bumpiest road of Central America...No joke! There were HUGE boulders, potholes and cows and we only saw one or two cars struggling to get out. All of this delighted my dad as we all bounced and bumped along waiting for a tire to blow out that my dad said Matt would be the one to change :) Through all this Rebekah surprisingly did not wake up. After what seemed like an hour of creeping along we finally made it to La Playa. My dad was ready to get in the water but with Rebekah and Matt. It was actually a pretty nice beach, but I am not sure it was worth all the sacrifice. After a short swim, we made the bumpy ride to the main road and we again thought we were headed for home.

But oh no, my dad still had to get another plate of Curiles and watch the final soccer game of the season at his usual stopping point :) Under much protest from the women, we still stopped to watch the second half of the game. Rebekah just crawled around and was content and that was a blessing. As we watched the game, we saw a lizard hunting a insect on the wall above the tv. Believe me, this was the place to be ;)

It was dark by the time we were leaving and Matt decided to take driving lessons from my dad and drive us the rest of the way home. Knowing how dangerous those roads were and how inexperienced Matt was at driving in Honduras made me almost puke and it improved my prayer life! He did great though and later told me there was a huge spider crawling across the dashboard trying to distract him...and that improved his prayer life ;)

When we were almost home Matt had to find El Baño and my dad wanted some food, so we stopped at a road side comedor (small diner). Matt had to go twice that time in less than sanitary conditions and was getting used to the phrase, ¨no hay papel¨which means there is no toilet paper and when he asked for napkins, he got two really thin ones :)

We finally arrived to our longed-for home and bed where we put Rebekah down and Matt headed for the bathroom, which is where our story began :) Matt had a rough night and two more days of recovery. He was so weak for those couple of days. However, he is quite the trooper and continues to enjoy the Honduran food. He is a blessing to my family. They have accepted him as another odd addition to the clan :)

So much to tell...part 1: El Sur

2006-12-26T16:40:00.000-06:00

It was Sunday night, finally. Matt had made his temporary home in the bathroom, alternating between sitting and kneeling before the porcelain throne...I had put Rebekah down and was in shock as I thougth about all that happened that day :) It all started early Sunday morning.

My dad wanted Matt to experience the unique culture of El Sur (the southern country of Honduras). We had decided to make a day trip since it was about a two and a half hour drive. After breakfast we set out for El Sur, driving through the winding mountain roads. The views of the rolling mountains were beautiful. As we drove we saw poinsettia trees in full bloom, which Matt had never seen. Since the sky was so clear, we caught glimpses of the Gulf as we rounded the mountain tops. We passed several small villages where my dad had worked as a young doctor. My dad loves this part of the country and he was proud to show it off. Some of the villages are known for their fresh fruit and the Jicaro, which is a tree that produces big round fruit that has seeds inside used for making Horchata (a sweet drink).

We stopped at a place called Jicaro Galan, where we always stop when my dad is driving to have a plate of Curiles (Curiles are clams that are eaten raw (alive) either out of the shell or out of a bowl). As we were chowing down on them, Matt was persuaded to try one. Matt, wanting to experience the culture to the fullest was brave enough to try a Curil ;) My dad put one on a cracker with onion, tomato and worchestershire sauce and when he squeezed the lime juice on it, the clam contracted in retaliation...then Matt took it and down the hatch it went. My mom, dad and I were watching intently to see what his reaction would be...laughing inside :) Matt did`t have a big reaction...he just said that he didn`t like it nor did he want more.

After the plate of Curiles, we drove a half an hour further to have lunch on the bay, San Lorenzo. We stopped at an outdoor restaurant and sat down under a thatched roof to eat. We ordered fried fish which comes with fried platanos and a salad. In the meantime we paid a roaming band of two to sing and play some rancheras for us. We had to undress Rebekah because it was really hot. She adapted really well like she had lived there her whole life :=) After eating, Matt asked for the first of many times, adonde esta el baño? If you don´t know this phrase, learn it before visiting Latin America ;)

We then took a boat tour on the bay and then got back on the road to head to the ocean...to be continued!!! Check back soon. It gets more interesting!

Viva Honduras!

2006-12-15T15:13:00.000-06:00

We have been in Honduras for about a week and a half and it has been great. Matty joined us 4 days ago!!! Rebekah is doing wonderful. She loves the food and she loves to walk everywhere (with our help) :) She has adjusted really well. We have had a very relaxing time, visited and seen lots of family, and have been eating LOTS of good food :) There is no place like home!

The weather here is perfect :) It is 75 in the daytime and 60 in the evenings. We are loving it! My mom´s house is really open and is up on a hill so the breeze flows through the house, keeping it fresh and comfortable. The only distraction from the calm is the construction workers adding on to the back of the house. There are 3 men working to add a two story addition so the sawing and hammering is fairly constant. They say they should finish by December 23rd and we can´t wait for that to happen. The men working are hardworking, humble, kind and have servants´ hearts. They love it when Rebekah greets them with, ¨hola, hola!¨

Two days ago we went to my grandma´s house because they had made some arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) for all of us. We had a blast. Picture 7 wild kids under the age of 7, and 12 adults in a 10´by 14´room eating and talking while Lidia and Grandma dance to the Christmas merengue in front of the Christmas tree ;) Pretty wild, yet fun! We bought paletas (homemade popsicles) for everyone for 2 cents each from the next door neighbor! Can´t beat that! Later we had coffee and pan dulce (Sweet bread)...yummy...yummy!!! What a joyful time to be around all those kids and family; everybody sharing what little they have. This is a picture of a normal family gathering in Honduras.

Last night Matty, Rebebah and I went on a walk around the neighborhood. First we went down the really steep hill by the house and then went through the neighborhood where the trees where carved into archways. At the end of that street some of the children asked for a lempira...which is equivalent to five cents. We enjoyed looking at the different bright colors and styles of houses and daydreamed about what kind of house we would like if we lived down here. We then huffed and puffed our way back up the big hill. (Tegucigalpa is about 3,800 ft elevation so Matt´s Tulsa lungs are working overtime). All the way Rebekah was munching on a big rosquilla (hard, round bisquit with a hole in the middle). Rebekah has become fond of the rosquillas because she can chew on one for an hour or more. We give her one every day and that makes her happy :) As we walked, pushing her in her stroller, she was happy and content to look at all the cars and people and stray dogs along the way.

So far we have been safe and healthy and enjoying our time. We should be heading to La Ceiba to visit my brother and the Arevalos next week! We are excited! We appreciate your prayers. Check back for more updates in the days to come!

My Beautiful Sister

2006-11-11T02:48:00.000-06:00

The Lord has blessed me with a beautiful, loving, giving and caring sister. She is a pillar in my life. She has always wanted the best for me! I know this for a fact.

She is a warrior too. She is a picture of endurance and patience. I admire my sister and love her to death. I wish she knew how much I loved her. I think sometimes I might not convey that to her and so I want to take this opportunity to tell her how much she means to me, how honored I am to be her sister and to tell her that I admire her so much.

Here are some things I love about you, Gringa:

1. You have courage, endurance and much patience in life.
2. You do not give up easily!!!
3. You are hard-working! At home you work so hard to keep it in order, to get everything done for the boys. You are amazing! You cook for 6 people everyday AND you even feed Nelson's friends :)
4. You love your family! Not only your immediate family, but all of our extended family...you keep in touch with them....you remember their b-days and call them!
5. God has blessed you with a giving heart! You love to give to others!
6. You are a servant, which is what Jesus is like ! It is one of the best characteristics that anyone can possess!
7. You are thoughtful in your own way
8. You are smart! Very smart and I am so proud of you for all that you have achieved so far. I know that God has tons in stored for you and your family
9. God has given you a compassionate heart and it is beautiful to see it expressed through you
10. I love the way you love your children and Jeremy and the many ways that you have sacrificed for them and given up what is precious to you.

I love you my dear sister and I admire you. I am grateful for you! I love you more than you think.

It was great seeing you this past weekend, and I especially loved going out for coffee and dessert with you and Lissy! Let's do that every time we see each other...it will be my treat for the two of you plus it will build great memories between each other!

I love you ALWAYS!

Tulsa Hillbilies

2006-11-10T12:33:00.000-06:00

Here we are as a family! Hope you guys enjoy it :) We are quite the hillbilies aren't we?? :)

Oh my gosh...

2006-11-09T14:24:00.000-06:00

A while back when Rebekah was younger and getting up more often in the middle of the night I woke up one evening because I heard her crying. I got up and started going to her bedroom. Between our bedroom and hers is a long hall that I can look straight into her room.

I was half asleep and as I reached the door I saw this muscular silhouette standing in the middle of Rebekah's door and as soon as I saw this, I flipped out!

I looked straight at the silhouette and yelled, "OH MY GOSH" and threw myself back into bed :) I was trembling in fear thinking that a man might be in Rebekah's room or "could it be a ghost??" All of a sudden I heard, LIDIA, and did not respond. My heart was loudly beating in my ears and I was probably pale from fright at this point.

After that, the manly voice kept saying, LIDIA and it was coming closer! Then I realized it was Matt! I guess Rebekah had been crying way before I heard her so he had awaken and gone to get her for me.

Although I wasn't laughing then, we now look back and laugh at this. It is one of those memorable moments that we will talk about for years to come.

Do we have to share the gospel every time we meet!

2006-11-02T15:31:00.000-06:00

I had been thinking about this lately regarding our Good News Club and I think God is showing me the importance of sharing His Truth to these children.

Our club started out with six children and then it grew to seven. We had shared about Christ in all of our meetings from the beginning...faithfully every time we met. One of the reasons we did this was because the material that we use encourages us to do so and also because we were not sure who of the children had a relationship with Jesus Christ.

As of now we have had three girls who faithfully come to our study and we have had some great times with them. Times in which they gave their lives to Christ! So very exciting:) Starting this week, we will have (hopefully and prayerfully) the other kids back.

These are some assurances from the Lord about sharing Christ with the kids each time we meet:
1. We never know when we will have a visitor so it's best to have it all planned and in the schedule
2. The children sometimes are distracted or have a hard time understanding the concept of salvation
3. Our neighbors next door might be moving...so we could be the only people that might share Christ with them for a while
4. We never know what tomorrow brings! Life is short and we need to share Christ's love and salvation with others. It is not easy nor comfortable, but we can lead someone to saving grace and see them in heaven! What a wonderful thing!

Lord, give us the courage to share your Truth and help us to faithfully share from your Word about what You have done for us!

Bye-bye

2006-11-02T15:27:00.000-06:00

Rebekah is learning a lot these days :) She is our little clown and she is such a joy! We are blessed with her.

We have been teaching her to wave with her hand good-bye but with no results. Yesterday after she woke up from her nap, she started waving with her hand all by herself! It was precious! She kept waving all day and today she continues to watch her hand wave :) I love it!

She is also doing cow and monkey sounds. She just keeps learning new things! Of course we think she is pretty advanced for her age ;) What parent wouldn't think that about their child??

Gingerbonding

2006-10-27T21:51:00.000-05:00

Over fall break I had the four girls of our Good News Club over to make some gingerbread houses! It was fun and messy :) We were able to have more "girl" talks and it was a good way to bond and be silly!

I am blessed to have four little sisters who I can teach about God and lead them in the road less traveled, but the one that lasts forever!

Thank you Lord for giving me the opportunity to serve you by loving and teaching these precious girls!

Second Birthday

2006-10-24T21:54:00.000-05:00

Today we only had 3 kids come to our Good News Club, but it was exactly what God wanted. Today, Kayla and Jazmine gave their lives to Christ. We led them in a prayer and then we celebrated their second birthday with cookies and ice cream!

They were so giddy after this...we all were :) We were so happy!

When I took them home, I told them to tell their parents what they had done, and so they said, "we are Christians...we are now children of God." It was so beautiful to hear them say that. Their parents were happy and thankful.

For Halloween we are taking all the kids to our Church's Fall Festival and we are all dressing up like Hillbilies :) We are looking forward to havig fun together.

Please pray for Kayla and Jazmine, that they will grow in their faith and that they will desire to be imitators of Christ.

"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" John 1:12

H-E-double-hockey-sticks

2006-10-21T07:03:00.000-05:00

I was asking Matt about the word hell the other day as we were driving. Because English is my second language I am still learning new things everyday. I knew that in some settings this word could be a bad word, so I was asking him when and why.

As we were talking he told me that when he was in school, he and his friends used to say H-E- double-hockey-sticks :) I thought it was so funny! He said that this is a colloquialism?? Intersesting :)

Copy-cat

2006-10-19T08:30:00.000-05:00

Rebekah is quite the copy-cat these days. She will mimic whatever we are doing :) Yesterday morning I was breastfeeding her so I put her in bed with us. When she was done eating she was aahhing and oohhing and I thought that she would not go back to sleep.

So, I started grunting to "give her the message that mama was still sleepy" :) When I grunted, she would grunt back at me. When I grunted twice, she would grunt twice...this went on and on:) It was hilarious! She is one funny little girl.

I put her back in her crib and she grabbed her monkey really fast and went back to sleep...good baby ;)

Fast moving...into everything...Rebekah

2006-10-17T12:43:00.000-05:00

Rebekah is now 8 months as of last Thursday and she is changing lots! She is into EVERYTHING. Intrigued and interested in all that she sees...she loves to explore. She loves to use her voice and likes to be LOUD :) It is cute, although Matty doesn't like it when she uses her "dinosaur voice" :) She crawls everywhere and she pretty much keeps us busy :) For the most part she is very happy and we are grateful for a healthy, active and sweet baby.

You can see the most recent picture of Rebekah at www.mattbrodine.com

Thank you Lord for being our nigh God!

2006-10-16T12:16:00.000-05:00

Today is one of those beautiful days where the Lord is so close that I can even feel him next to me...speaking to me through His Word and giving me a desire and a passion for His Word and His purposes.

It is chilly here in Tulsa and rainy :) It is beautiful! I love the transition of the seasons...especially from summer to fall...from the heat to the coolness and cozy mornings. It is wonderful :)

I put Rebekah down for her nap this morning and I made some coffee. I sat on my chair and read from His Word and prayed. It was so refreshing...so amazing! His Word is alive and active! Wow, what a wonderful thing it is when His Word touches our deepest being. My prayer all morning was, Lord, Renew my mind through your Word and may it go deep into my heart that it may bear much fruit! I don't want to just read it, but I desire for His Word to bear fruit in my life. To be a doer of His Word, not just a hearer or reader.

I feel refreshed and ready to take on the wonderful challenge of taking care of our little girl and being the best mom for the glory of God...Being a godly wife, honoring my husband, for the glory of Christ. Honoring God in all that I say and do today and always for His glory.

Epaphras

2006-10-14T21:59:00.000-05:00

Epaphras is mentioned in the book of Colossians and he was a man whose life and faith impacted the lives of the young believers in Colosse.

I am doing a study in Colossians and the question came up about who is an Epaphras in my life? Who has impacted my life because they have been examples of Christ to me...Especially as a young believer. Here are some of the people that I can think of and want to thank!

No especific order

1. Matt Brodine
2. John and Nicole Graves
3. Kelley Arevalo
4. Renee Wilkins
5. My accountability girls- past and present
6. Sanja Caffey

I thank God for your lives and how your godly commitment, love and passion for Christ and His kingdom, unending pursuit of Him and you living out His Truth in your lives have been an inspiration, challenge and placed a desire within me to do the same!

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace...For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God."
Philippians 1:3-11

$705.50

2006-10-13T11:35:00.000-05:00

This is how much it cost us to get 3 tickets to Honduras for Christmas! God is so faithful and good!

My ticket was $717.50 but with a $300 voucher it ended up costing $417.50
Rebekah's was $248
Matt's was $40 :) He had AA miles so it was pretty much free!

If we would have had to pay full price for all of our tickets it would have costed us $1,683!!!! Can you believe that! We are amazed how God provides for us as we trust Him and commit our lives and every decision to Him. He could have provided the whole amount, but He wanted us to trust Him to provide exactly what we needed. We are grateful!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!